The Third Man
by fbobs
Summary: Sequel to "Take 2". What happens when the terrorist cell continues to track Annie & Auggie and captures an FBI agent? Will skill and commitment triumph over politics and ambition? Rated T for violence and action scenes. "Take 2" was re-written to follow season 3. No spoilers for Season 4. Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They are the property of Covert Affairs owners.
1. Chapter 1

The Third Man / FW

AN: I hope you enjoy the story. It's all written. Ten of the fifteen total chapters are still in beta, but they all exist. So, for better or worse, it's all going to get published on time.

This starts right where my first Covert Affairs story, "Take 2 Before Breakfast", ends.

**The Third Man**

**Chapter 1 – Relaxation is a myth.**

**7:12 p.m. Monday, Day 1: Getting it back together.**

With the Corvette washed and back in storage, the Golf filled with gas, and permission from Langley to stay at Auggie's apartment instead of the safe house now that the two missing terrorist cell members were accounted for, Annie was ready to collapse. She didn't want a beer. She didn't want a drink. She just wanted something soothing like chamomile tea or even a glass of warm milk. Better yet, she'd settle for the feeling of safety and peace that couch time curled up with Auggie would bring. She watched him sort his clothes, some for laundry, some to be hung back in the closet and said, "Let's just do them all. Wash or dry clean as appropriate. I want to wash the bad parts of this weekend off everything."

"Okay, I'm easy, but this still needs to be sorted into - "He was interrupted by Anne's civilian phone ringing. She looked at Danielle's face on the display, sighed and answered it saying, "Dani, I'm just fine -"

It all came out in a rush. Danielle gushed without pausing for anything, "I know you were in Carlisle at the Corvette show with Auggie you are blond have a pink vest and that gun and I saw the picture in the paper and it's you and I've been worried sick are you okay?"

"Yes, both Auggie and I are just fine."

"What happened? This time you can tell me every single detail. It wasn't a mission; it was on the TV news on every single channel, so it can't be classified. It was an attack in a restaurant not a mission, and you were there and you have to tell me what happened before I explode!"

"Dani, first things first -"

"Annie, what went on? How much of what I'm reading in the paper is right?"

Unable to get a word in, Annie relaxed and decided to wait her out. Eventually her sister stopped and waited. Apparently she couldn't handle the silence because she said, "Annie? You're there. I hear you breathing. Annie, come on, talk to me?"

"Are you ready to listen?"

"Yes! … Yes ... look, I'm sorry, I was just so frustrated. This whole thing broke on the news on Sunday morning about the time I got up. We turned on the TV, and the story was all over it. Then in the paper this morning, I see your picture, at least I'm pretty sure that's you in the pink vest I gave you, and you are holding a gun. The story says a blonde-haired woman who wishes to remain anonymous shot and killed two terrorists that staged a deadly blitz attack on a restaurant with shotguns. Chloe and Katia saw the picture and about lost their minds because they knew it was you. I had to tell them they couldn't tell anybody it was their Aunt Annie. I've left about a hundred messages and texts and you haven't answered any of them. Was that you?"

"Yes."

"Can I come see you, please? I can be there tomorrow morning."

"If you can come in late Thursday night we can have a long weekend together. I'm supposed to be back at work on Monday. But, I'd like that. I really want some big sister hugs. Life has been pretty rough since you were here."

"Annie, it was seriously rough then. You were in the hospital recovering from being shot twice in the chest. Nobody would tell me anything. I couldn't even stay at my own house. I know it happened in my kitchen. I'm so glad you are okay and that we weren't there. But from the pictures you sent, the house is back to normal."

"It's all been fixed. You can't tell it ever happened."

"But it could happen again. Where can I stay?"

"No, it can't. You are as safe as you ever were to stay there during your visit. But I don't want to talk about it on the phone. You just get here. I'll arrange to tell you what you need to know about that, and everything you want to know about the restaurant and anything related to it. I promise. But I won't do it over the phone."

"I'll be there Thursday night, probably late. I already have a tentative flight schedule figured out." She paused, and then continued, "How are you and Auggie?"

"We are doing great. He was with me all weekend. Right there for me every second. We will talk more when you get here. Right now, I need to call my boss and make some arrangements. "

"Okay, I'll e-mail you a copy of my itinerary as soon as I have it finalized."

"Great. I'm looking forward to it. Love you, Dani. Give my love to the girls."

"Love you too, Annie. I'll tell the kids. They really miss their Aunt Annie."

"I miss them too. Got to run. Bye."

"Bye."

She ended the call and sighed. Auggie came over, and she welcomed a hug. She snuggled against his chest and said, "I need to call Frank and Joan."

"Why?"

"I want to go to Frank's Wednesday and Thursday. I really want a debrief from him. This is one of the few actions I know I can tell him about in detail. I also want to go into the DPD and talk to Joan tomorrow morning."

"About what?"

"I want to get her permission to take Danni into one of the civilian briefing rooms and tell her the story of the restaurant, the take down today that she hasn't heard about on TV yet, and I want to brief her on why Lena isn't a threat. I need to do it there to impress on her that it's really classified, and I need you to be there with me when I do it. I desperately need to re-establish my credibility with my sister, and I think the only way to do it is to take her into Langley and level with her. You are the two people on the planet that keep me sane. I can't lose either of you." She paused briefly and added, "I need Joan's permission to do all that - especially the Lena part."

Auggie was rubbing small circles on her back right where he knew it would relax her the most. He slid his arms back around her and said, "I know."

They stood there for a minute when Auggie said, "Would you like me to give you a massage. I think I can get you so relaxed you won't be able to move."

To Annie that sounded wonderful. Auggie gave the best massages on the planet. He could rub the tension right out of her with his magic fingers. She knew he loved to do it, especially when she was as strung out as she was right now. "I'd love that. Let me call Frank now; it's one of the times he's reachable. I'll call Joan in the morning. Then I'm all yours."

"I'll go get the stuff ready."

Annie picked up her personal phone and selected Frank's number out of her 'recent call' list. He answered on the first ring, "Ms. Walker, I've been expecting your call. You want to come in for a debrief on yesterday, this morning, and a refresher session?"

Frank's directness and knowledge of things he shouldn't know about, like 'this morning,' used to put her off. Now she expected it, so she gave it right back to him, "Arrive tomorrow evening late. Stay in usual room. I'll be ready to go first light Wednesday. I'd like to train Thursday as well if you have an opening."

"That works as long as you don't arrive before nine PM tomorrow."

"I'll plan to be there right at ten. I need to bring anything other than my usual stuff?"

"The equipment in your locker plus what's in your usual duffle will get it done. Might want to bring a couple of extra pair of jeans and shirts. Bring your nineteen, twenty six, and your checkbook - I have a new gun for you to try that I'm pretty sure you are going to like."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Springfield XDs. Pocket size, well maybe not quite pocket size for you, pistol in forty five ACP."

"I've read about it. Has it been out long enough to be debugged?"

"This one has. I have it all tuned up, XS Big Dot sights on it and ready to go. If you try it and don't like it, I'm okay with that, but I think you will."

"I'll try it, but I really like the guns I have. I'll arrive after nine PM. See you at seven in the assembly room?"

"Yes. See you then." The call ended.

Annie took a deep breath. Frank was a fantastic teacher, and he had a unique training facility, but she always felt a little pushed when she talked to him on the phone. In person, to her at least, he wasn't as intimidating because she could see him. On the phone, without the depth of communication sight gave her, he almost had her holding her breath. She supposed the fact that he was one of the deadliest men on the planet might have had something to do with that. She had mixed feelings about another gun. She wasn't sure what this new one would add to her capabilities, especially since it was a relatively light polymer framed pistol shooting the powerful .45ACP cartridge, but she was willing to try it based on Frank's recommendation. A little 'pocket thunder' couldn't hurt in the right situation. She made a mental note to research the gun before she saw Frank on Wednesday morning.

Annie saw it was 'only' 8 o'clock. She reasoned Joan was still in her office so she tried the number off her encrypted company phone.

"Campbell."

Annie decided not to be put off by the clipped answer; she knew her name was displayed on Joan's phone. She pressed on, "May I come in and see you in the morning?"

"Subject?"

"My sister's visit Friday through Sunday. I want to bring her into a civilian briefing room Friday morning and read her in on enough so that she knows the person that shot me in her kitchen is no longer a threat. I also need to tell her the whole story about the restaurant and this morning. I need to do that with you in the room. She already knows from her visit to the hospital that you are my boss. Joan, I need to reestablish my credibility with her. She's one of two people that are my anchors in this world. She was last here when I was recovering from being shot."

"I'll make time for you at eight. Bring Auggie with you. I have a favor to ask of you in return."

"Please ask."

"I want to arrange a nine o'clock meeting in the media briefing room for the whole department. It just happens everybody is in town and will be in the office tomorrow morning. I want to have you tell your story, in detail, related to both the terrorist attack in the restaurant, and your take down of the two terrorists this morning. I want them to hear the whole story from the time you left Carlisle till you were back on the way to Gettysburg."

"As a training session?"

"As a learning experience. It's one of the few things an Agent has done that can be told to the whole department. Only the fact that it was you that did it is classified and we'll never keep that a secret in the department anyway. I want to do it now because I want them to see your face before you have a chance to reduce it to an emotionless diatribe. Will you do that for all of us?"

"Yes."

"Thank you. At this point, nobody in here but Stu and his guys know you were the shooter. I'd like to keep it that way until I ask you to stand up and give us the talk tomorrow morning."

"No problem. ... I'd like to return to my original question. May I bring Danielle in?"

"Yes. Do you have a picture you can e-mail me so I can arrange for gate clearance?"

"Yes, I'll send it in the next 5 minutes."

"Okay. Consider it done. You know where to bring her in, right?"

"Yes."

"Have a good evening, Annie." And she ended the call.

Auggie had been listening and said, "That went pretty well."

"It did. I don't mind talking to the department. I wonder if Joan is trying to promote having more of them carry a gun when they are off duty?"

"I don't know. She might be."

"We'd have been in terrible trouble if I hadn't had at least the little Glock. I'd have grabbed you and tried to get out the back of the restaurant, but I don't think we'd have made it. We'd have been in position to be hit by the two shots they took before they got to where I could take them down."

"Let your brain process it over night. I'm exhausted. How about we do warm milk and try for some shuteye?"

"I thought you said you had a better idea?"

"Uh ... that could fit in too ... better than warm milk."

"Definitely." She got up, took his hand, and said, "I'm in. Let's go get sleepy."

They did.

**6:00 a.m. Tuesday, Day 2: Waking up.**

_She sees him rise effortlessly up through the van window, AK47 pointed at her chest. Her chest spasms from the memory of being shot. Oh God. This was a big mistake, a fatal error of judgment. She knows she won't survive a rifle shot. She fights to survive, but her arms can't respond fast enough to raise the leaden Glock. She's off balance from the sprint down the bank from the road. Then the muzzle flashes, and she braces for the final excruciating pain -_

"Annie, Annie, wake up, it's a dream. You're safe," she heard as Auggie's voice made it through the haze of her nightmare. She gradually pulled herself away from the vivid images in her imagination as reality set in. The scene from her dream faded, and she knew from the dim light that it was morning. A moment later, she realized she was wrapped tightly in Auggie's arms and soaked with sweat. Her body, not yet caught up with her brain, struggled to get free even as she understood what she just experienced wasn't real. She heard the concern in Auggie's voice and forced herself to relax. "Annie," she heard him say, "... yes ... that's it. You are safe. You are home. We are in our own bed. I'm right here," as he tried to comfort her for the third time since they went to bed.

She took a shaky deep breath, held it until her lungs hurt, and then let it escape in a huge sigh of relief. She felt Auggie's breathing slow and his grip relax as he sensed her return to the present. He asked, "You back with me?"

It took all her will power to get out, "Yeah. Give me a minute to purge that from my brain." She felt his arms relax as he moved back just a bit to give her some space, but he maintained the light contact he knew she needed to keep her grounded in the here and now. He waited for her to work her way out of the terror he knew she'd experienced in her dream.

He eventually relaxed his grip enough to tenderly stroke her arm and use his fingers to see her face. She felt his fingers take a 'look' at her. He completely ignored the fact that she was dripping wet and had soaked the sheets. "Thanks, Auggie. How long this time?"

"A couple of minutes for the worst part. You were in the throes of a nightmare for quite a while. I'd have preferred to back off and let you come out of it by talking to you, but that wasn't going to happen this time."

"That was twice in one night. I need to stay at Danielle's so you can get some sleep."

"Three times actually, but I don't think you really woke up after the second one. And don't even think about sleeping alone till you get through at least three consecutive nights without a screaming thrash happening."

Annie raised her head and saw from the clock that it was about ten to six. She knew she had to move if they were going to make it into the DPD in time for her morning meeting with Joan, and she wished she had some time to prepare for the meeting with the department afterwards. She was not sure that follow-up meeting was a good idea. She wasn't a fan of blowing her own horn, even less since she joined the CIA, and still less when it came to telling others how she had killed people. Three people this time.

She shook her head, rolled over, ignored how wet and sweaty she felt, and offered Auggie a good morning kiss that was returned with both love and tenderness, but not pity. She was so grateful he realized she didn't need or want pity. However, it was time to move if she wanted a shower, and she desperately needed a shower.

She asked, "Auggie, you want to wash my back?"

Foolish question as it turned out.

**8:20 a.m. Tuesday, Day 2: Langley**

Their morning shower and the familiarity of the drive to Langley with Auggie helped to settle her nerves. The routine of the check in through the gate took the edge off her anxiety about having to tell a room full of people how she killed three people in two days. _The guards are stone faced, but Annie thinks she sees a flicker of recognition in their eyes. She realizes they see her sometimes for days in a row, then not for days or months. Then with no notice, she shows up again for a day, or days, weeks or months. She knows they are supposed to be robots, unmoved by human feeling, objective assessors of all who enter and leave. But she also knows that, if it were her, she'd wonder where that person had been, what they'd done, and how it made them feel, but there is never any communication. She's supposed to be a robot too, not supposed to feel all hollow inside after she wins a fight with the bad guys. She feels her 'face' almost slip. Wonders if they can see the damage from last weekend. Probably not. She's given up trying a smile. It has the same effect as smiling at a fence post, or a palace guard. No response, nothing. She made herself a promise: if one of them ever does crack a smile or show even the tiniest flicker of recognition, she will return it._

The car parked, she and Auggie made their way to and through the door of the DPD. _It has only been 4 days since we were here the last time, but it feels like a lifetime. What was it I read, that it wasn't the miles, it was the condition of the road? The last 4 days have certainly been some rough road. Pot holes, boulders, washboard and sharp corners. And highwaymen. Don't forget the highwaymen. _

_Last night wasn't so great either... well the sleeping parts of it weren't anyway._

Auggie pulled her out of her daydream when he said, "Hey, we're here. I'm going to head for Tech. Ops. to see Stu."

"I'm going to check my desk, and then I suspect Joan will be after us." She turned and walked toward her desk, Auggie went in the direction of his desk. Finally alert and in the moment, Annie saw the usual early morning activity. A few people chatted over their first cups of coffee. Others stared intently at a computer monitor. Some were in earnest discussion with abbreviated but energetic gestures. There were also a few staff members who had already isolated themselves in a room full of activity, oblivious to everyone around them, as they chased an elusive thread in search of new intel - as Annie wished she were doing at that moment. Right now she'd give a lot for the peace of a few quiet, safe, days translating documents.

At her desk, Annie set down her coffee, switched on her computer and, before she could do anything else, heard Joan in the background, "Annie, Auggie, a word please."

Annie heard the 'please' but didn't confuse it with a request. It was an order, plain and simple. She looked up, returned Joan's look, nodded, picked up her coffee, and started out on a course to intercept Auggie. She spotted Auggie, coffee in hand, on his way from Tech. Support. As she expected, he stopped and waited for her to catch up at their usual meeting point. She brushed his hand, he took her arm, and they moved toward the stairs up to Joan's office.

"She didn't sound pissed," Annie observed.

"That could be an act. She was steaming on the phone after you took down those two south of Carlisle."

"Not so much on the phone last night."

"My experience, it's a good idea to assume she's not happy."

Just in case, Annie knocked even though the door was open. Joan looked up, and while she didn't exactly smile, she had a pleasant expression when she said, "Please. Come on in. Take a seat."

Annie let go of Auggie's arm. They both found their usual seats on Joan's couch. Joan came around her desk, a good sign, usually, to sit in the chair near them. She had a couple of sheets of paper and her phone in her hands. As she approached the chair, she looked over at them with what looked to Annie like a pleasant expression._ Who are you and what have you done with Joan Campbell?_

"Welcome back, for part of the day, anyway. Annie, you look like you had a rough night. How are you doing?"

"I remember two bad episodes during the night. Auggie said there were three. I woke up all wet, thrashing. Auggie helped me to get my mind straight and back to sleep. I'll be okay. I just have to work through it."

"Are you up to giving the talk I asked for this morning?"

"Yes, I-"

"I need to add, I have some info you haven't seen. I'd like to include it in the briefing."

"What info?"

"You remember the video camera you saw in the restaurant office, the one Agent Rossabi said didn't work, but he got the hard drives anyway?"

"Yeah, I remember it, right over the desk on the office wall."

"He sent the video segment yesterday and called first thing this morning. They checked the hard drives out of due diligence and found out there are four cameras in the restaurant. The owner had them put there without telling the staff because she thought some of the staff were allowing friends and family to leave without paying their bills. Not a lot, but enough to result in a significantly reduced profit and less revenue than they should have had based on the supplies they had to buy."

"Really? Did they see anything useful on the other cameras?"

"Oh yeah. The video segment of interest to us from each camera arrived yesterday. I gave it to Stu and spent some time with it. Between three of the four cameras, pretty much the whole attack after they came in past the hostess station is caught on video, and the fourth camera caught the customer getting shot in the entry way as well as their approach to the restaurant doors."

Annie said, "Wow. I'm really glad Rossabi took the hard drives and didn't rely on the broken camera. Otherwise we'd be looking at that video on YouTube."

"I plan to show the video at the department meeting today. Do you want the video before you talk, or after?"

"May I see the video before I decide?"

"Sure. Stu edited it for us. The action part, from the time you see them through the window until it's all over and you ask Colonel Abbott to take over, takes less than a minute and a half. But I have some other things I want to go over first."

"Okay."

"Annie, why did you go after those two in the van instead of just running? You were gaining on them; there was no way they were going to catch you after they crashed. You were outnumbered, way out gunned, and in open country. That is not a tactical advantage."

"There were three reasons I thought the odds of succeeding were on my side. First, they were likely injured; at the very least severely disoriented from being in that van while it did one-and-a-half rolls and a half twist. I saw it rolling in my mirror - it wasn't a gentle experience. Second, I could approach from their blind side, and I did. I came up behind the van. No windows. Third, I could see before I left the 'Vette that I would have a good position to shoot from. When it went down, I was prone on a steep bank with just my head and arms over the top. I was steady as a rock in that position. There was no way I was going to miss a man size target at ten to twelve yards, or even twenty yards with that shooting position. And no way were they going to get the first shot. I'd do it again."

"I understand all that, but -"

"Joan, these were known terrorists. I expected them to be well armed. Auggie and I had discussed it, and they were. There was no way I could leave them there to prey on the innocent people living in the area. They'd have murdered with impunity to get what they needed to escape. I couldn't let that happen any more than I could let the two attack in the restaurant and not try to take them down."

"Okay, I can see your point, but realize you are taking on very risky situations."

"Joan, compared to going after Lena, everything about this was a walk in the park."

"I understand, but, going after Lena was as close as one gets to living through a suicide mission, so I'd hope this was a walk in the park by comparison."

Joan checked her notes, then continued, "Next subject: Guns and missions. Your job is getting intel. Auggie told me one time you had figured out your job was manipulating people for information. You were one hundred percent right when you said that. You are also capable of much more than most operatives. I don't want to lose you to the Black Ops people. You have shown you are remarkably good at the bigger picture, better than I'd have ever thought when we first met. You are incredibly cool under fire; your real time assessment skills are some of the best I've seen, and you are able to react with skill and precision. That said, your one-in-twenty million language skills and your even more rare ability to think strategically, on your feet, under pressure, as you did with Kalid Ansari, sets you apart. You have the potential for missions that others can't even dream about. You are simply too valuable to go to the dark side. You are so much more than a blonde thug with a gun who can kill if she has to."

Annie gasped but said, "Thank you. I'm glad you appreciate me for more than my warrior tendencies." She paused and said, "I'll leave the mission value assessment to you, but I can tell you I don't want to be a part of anything resembling an assassination team. I don't want to be assigned to kill people. That isn't what I signed up to be. If that were where I was headed, I'd resign. I can always get work as a translator. Always."

She paused to get her thoughts straight, and Joan stayed silent. Annie continued, "Lena was a special case. I was both uniquely qualified and highly motivated to go after her. It was unprofessionally personal. I wanted her dead. But the rest of the time, all the other times, I was literally defending myself. I'm okay with defending myself. I'm really glad Rossabi got me that permit. Until we are sure there's no third man, I'm going to feel positively naked without a gun on me."

"You can't carry on duty inside the US. You can carry off duty. That's it, Annie."

"I know, but I don't have to like it."

"That brings me to my next subject. I have a video screen capture play back of the pursuit software and a video the State Police took driving as fast as they could down the road where you led the van on that chase. We also have the recording of the phone conversation during your escape and evasion effort to outrun the van. The Tech Ops guys had to speed up the State Police video, significantly by the way, to synchronize it to the real time computer and the GPS tracking data as well as the voice tape that happened in real time and then put it all together on a video. Watching that video with the computer displays and your conversations with Stu is way beyond scary. Right up there with the 'Bullet' chase on steroids gone rural. I'm planning to play that during the department meeting as well.

"Annie, you were flat out flying down that road at impossible speeds. I showed the video to a former F1 driver this morning. He played it through twice and said he wasn't sure he could go any faster. Where did you learn to drive like that? And don't tell me The Farm, because I know it wasn't there."

"Ice racing in Sweden, driving on the Autobahn in Germany - and driving in performance road rallies all over Europe. I loved the performance rallies. I used to ace the performance segments. My navigator wet her pants once."

Joan laughed at that and said, "I've no doubt. Your driving skills are seriously impressive. I should have known. You did really well at the farm, and you did mention your experience in the Ferrari, but that tape is something else. I think the driving course at the Farm must have been boring for you."

"It was. But I didn't want to show up the instructor, politically incorrect, bad timing, whatever."

"Auggie, did you know you were going 125 over the top of a sharp rise two hundred yards before that hard right turn, and almost 80 mph when she entered that bootlegger turn?"

"No, I didn't, but the smell of rubber was incredibly intense."

"How are the tires?"

Annie saw her chance and said, "About eight hundred dollars worth that need replacing."

"Let me see if I can at least pro-rate them. Do you know how old they were?"

"Basically brand new. We've had them for five months and about four hundred miles. We don't drive that car very much."

"Okay. Provide me with the purchase receipt for the tires. It should have the car's mileage at the time of purchase, a phone picture of your odometer, and I'll see what I can do." She paused, looked at the paper in her hand, and then said, "Okay, I have two more things. Guns to make available to you on assignment and how you learned to shoot like that." She paused. When Annie didn't say anything, she added, "Gun first. Any thoughts?"

"When I'm overseas, I pretty much use what I can pick up on the scene. It's usually too risky to my cover to be caught with a gun. So far, I've been able to get what I need on my own. However, there may be times I need to bring a gun, and in that case, the Glock twenty six, or an M&P Shield, both work fine. So does a Glock nineteen, but only if the weather is cold enough to wear clothes that conceal it. I would also probably use a SIG P-two thirty eight."

"I have a P-two thirty eight myself. You ever shoot the P-nine thirty eight, its nine millimeter twin?"

"Yes. Piece of cake. Compared to a Kahr CW forty five, or a three fifty seven Snubbie, it's a walk in the park. But I don't think it's reliable enough yet - they need a couple of years to get the bugs out like they did with the P-two thirty eight."

"Okay, that's pretty much what I expected, but I wanted to be sure we were on the same page. Now, we need to talk about your off-book trips to Frank's gun fighting school. Don't deny it, I've talked to Frank. He won't lie to me. He might not tell me everything he knows, but he won't lie in response to a direct question. I know you are heading out there tonight and plan to be there all tomorrow and the next day."

"How did you find out?" Her eyes darted to Auggie who remained expressionless.

"Not relevant. But it wasn't from Auggie."

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"I want to have The Agency pay for the training that you have been getting for free."

"I like it better when I'm completely free to work on what I want to work on, or what Frank thinks I need to work on. Frank knows my capabilities better than I do -"

"Did you know Frank says he only has four students that shoot better than you do? All male, all in Special Operations, Seal Team 6, and Delta Force."

"No. Joan, I would never ask him anything like that. It's not a competition to me. I just try my hardest to learn what he is trying to teach me. But please don't change the subject."

"I wasn't, I'm just really proud of you and wanted you to know how good you are; because I don't think you appreciate that."

"Okay, but I still don't want to be forced to do specific training by you or anyone else. I've learned the hard way the program at the Farm is totally inadequate. If I'd had only that training, I don't think I would have had a chance at anything but torso shots in the restaurant, and they were wearing vests. It would have been a much different outcome. But I don't see you deciding to offer training in fifty foot running head shots. Frank did."

"You are right, I wouldn't have, but I would now. Let me get to the bottom line here. I'll pay for whatever training you want, or Frank recommends, as long as you agree to also do specific training I might ask for."

"You have a deal if you will put that in the contract with Frank so I can see it? In writing?"

"Yes. I said it. I'll do it. I will also pay him for the training you have already had, including the ammunition you burned, which, I was astonished to learn, was over twenty thousand rounds in the last year."

"I have no trouble going through a thousand rounds in a two day session. I'm going to be there tomorrow and the next day, I'll probably go through five hundred rounds or more each day. Three times that if we practice with full auto weapons."

"Why do you practice with sub-machine guns?"

"Because the bad guys have them, and if that's what I pick up to defend myself, or whatever, I need to have the expertise to use it without thinking about it. I don't shoot any one of them very much, but there is quite a variety of them out there - and some of them, like the MP5, are easy to shoot yourself with if you aren't careful. It takes several sessions to get the hang of one. And the round count goes up fast at a six hundred round-per-minute rate of fire."

"What's the issue with the MP5?"

"The muzzle is only about an inch ahead of the front pistol grip if it doesn't have a suppressor or a flash hider on it. That puts your front hand almost in front of it. I like that gun better with a suppressor on it, or at least a flash hider."

"That makes sense." Joan paused, and continued, "That covers what I had on my agenda. Would you like to take a few minutes to review the videos from the restaurant and the chase before the meeting?"

"Yes. Definitely. I have two questions."

"Okay."

"What is your agenda for the meeting; will you say something first? And can I have the video of what happened in the restaurant and the chase on a DVD to show Frank for a critique while I'm there tomorrow, and to show Danielle when she is here?"

"Yes, you can take the DVD with you to review with Frank, and you can show it to Danielle while I'm there. Don't give either of them a copy of it."

"I won't. I understand. Thanks."

"No problem. You deserve that. So does your sister. We were hard on her when she was here, while you were in the hospital, then we took you to a safe house to recover. She couldn't visit the safe house so she returned to California." Joan paused, and then continued, "Now, back to the meeting. I'm going to give a short speech first. Other than you, me, Auggie, Stu, Barber, and two of his guys, none of the people in the meeting know that it was you that took those guys down. Stu, Barber, and the other two have been told not to tell anybody it was you. I'm going to tell the department about the event in general terms, tell them I've arranged for the shooter to brief them, and then introduce you as the shooter. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes. That will keep them from mobbing us before the meeting starts. Will Arthur be there?"

"I don't know. I invited him." She paused, looked down at her notes, and then said, "I have some things I need to do. I'll see you in the main conference room in half-an-hour?"

Annie and Auggie stood up with Joan. Annie said, "Joan, thank you for this meeting."

Joan offered her hand and said, "Annie, you are an incredible asset to this division. You drive me plumb crazy sometimes, but your intentions are always the best, and I can live with that. I want to do everything I can to help you take care of yourself and continue to be of value to the CIA."

"I don't know what to say, so I'll just say thanks. That means a lot coming from you. Now I need to get out of here and get my head straight."

Joan chuckled to herself as Annie and Auggie left her office, then returned to her desk.

Annie and Auggie left the meeting with Joan a little stunned. To say it went well was in the contest for understatement of the century. It was a big departure from their usual meetings with her; at least it was for Annie. Where was the usually curt, abrupt, short-spoken Joan? The one that issued ultimatums, gave orders and didn't negotiate? Annie came to a full stop at the top of the stairs that lead down to the bullpen. She stopped Auggie who turned towards her with an obvious question, but didn't say anything. Annie said, "Auggie, she is still our boss, but did you get the feeling that she now considers me more like a real agent as opposed to a prematurely released problem child trainee?"

"Yes. She has talked with me like that when we are alone, sometimes, and I know she respects my skills, but she definitely met you halfway on every issue where there was contention. She did that all the way through the meeting. I can't remember her ever being that complementary to anybody, including me. She obviously has a completely new level of respect for you, but don't think it means she won't get pissed now and then. She will. But that's just how she is."

"This is good news?"

"Yes, I think so. But it's also notice that she's going to hold you to a higher standard of performance."

"How? In what way? What should I do different?"

"Nothing different. Just be you. She's going to expect you to decide the tough calls, the hard choices, in a way that comes out for the best. Don't let it worry you and don't think about it. You pretty much do that all by yourself. You have since the first day you were here. You didn't ask for permission to go after Staz; you just did it."

"That wouldn't have ended well if Ben hadn't saved me."

"I know, but it was still the right thing to do. And with your skill set today, it might have ended well even without Ben. Annie, you are, to me, and I think to Joan, an elite agent. You aren't afraid to put it all on the line when you know you are right, and you have the skill and judgment to make it work. Your handling of Khalid, setting him and his father up to kill one another, was brilliant. You made that call on an impromptu basis, under pressure, in real time, in the field. I was right there with you and it never occurred to me. Or Eyal as it turns out. Nobody gets them all right, but you get it right way more than most."

"Auggie, thank you. I think that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about my performance as an agent."

"No, actually it isn't, but know this: there is no covert officer I hold in higher professional regard than you. I'm in love with you, but my regard for you as a Covert Officer was set way before we got together."

"Auggie, you will have me all emotional here in a minute, but thank you. It means so much more from you than anyone else." Annie let him know she was going to move with her hand, then started down the stairs and said, "Now I really need to get in front of a monitor. I need a quiet place to watch this video from the restaurant, and to see Stu's video of the chase as captured on the pursuit software, the state trooper video, and the tape of the open phone. Uh ... Don't want to do that on my desk with an audience. Will you let me use that desk in your Tech Ops area where the monitor isn't visible through the glass doors?"

"Sure."

07/17/2013


	2. Chapter 2: Geek Interrogated

The Third Man / FW

8

**AN:** Many thanks to AleciaB, Patricia Louise, and Gwynne, the best mentors a new fanfiction writer could have. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Geek**

**6 p.m. Monday, Day 1: FBI Headquarters, Quantico, VA:**

FBI Special Agents Jo Bell and John Larson hauled the reluctant young terrorist, whom Annie Walker had deposited into their custody in a farm field south of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, into Quantico. When John Larson, senior agent and nominal leader of their team, placed the call to Vincent Rossabi at the DC head office, Jo could only hear John's side of the conversation. "SSA Rossabi, we have the suspect from Annie Walker at your lockup entrance … Of course, we'll do that right away. Are you … Yes, we'd be glad to meet with you as soon as we get him turned over… We'll wait right here…"

John turned to make eye contact with her and said, "We've been instructed to turn him over to security. They'll sign the paper accepting custody, and then we wait here, presumably in those chairs, until SSA Rossabi sends someone to collect us. He wants to meet with us. Now. Not sure why."

Jo didn't know what else to do, so she just nodded. They moved their charge to the chairs and asked him to sit down. When she watched the young man move and carefully sit with his hands cuffed behind him, she almost felt sorry for him. His story was sort of sad but didn't, in her mind, excuse anything he had done. She reviewed the trip down in her head. So far, while he hadn't been particularly forth coming, he hadn't asked for a lawyer either, so Jo had sat in the back seat of the chopper with the recorder going talking with him for most of the trip. She wasn't sure how intelligible the conversation was going to be, but her memory was excellent, and she was confident she could write down the important parts of the conversation if she got a chance to do it soon.

She'd learned his name was Robert Ansari. He was born in Philadelphia to parents who immigrated to the US after their family was decimated as collateral damage during an Israeli commando strike. Their daughter, the sister he never knew, was killed. His parents struggled to make ends meet and they barely kept their heads above water doing labor jobs. She was a housekeeper; he worked as a night watchman because he couldn't get a job doing construction after nine eleven. His parents sent him to a Madrasa, an extreme Muslim religious school, located near Minneapolis, for six months. But, they moved him back to Philadelphia when his father was hired by a school district. He found out just before the end of his junior year that his attendance at the public school stopped the awkward questions about where he was going to school. It had been in a public school computer class that he learned he was almost a savant with computers. He told Jo he didn't even need to study, that if he read it once, he understood it, and he was able to figure out things he hadn't even been told about. He cheered up discussing computers until, when Jo shifted her position; she had seen him look at his laptop bag. After that he stopped talking.

Apparently, the shock of having his fatally shot companion fall back into the van on top of him had worn off, or he had rethought his situation. He asked for a lawyer, and he refused to tell her anything else. Jo had completed her law degree and had passed the bar only a couple of years previously. With the legal consequences fresh in her mind, she decided not to say anything more to him after he requested an attorney.

Most importantly, she hadn't gotten a chance to ask how he and his partner had located Walker and Anderson, and he hadn't volunteered the passwords to get into the encrypted folders that weren't open when the CIA mirrored the hard drive. The tech ops people at Quantico had received the disk mirror from the CIA along with the computer that Bell handed them when they met the helicopter.

Jo and Larson sat on the two chairs that flanked Ansari. Hungry and thirsty they settled in to wait for someone to collect their young terrorist. While she waited, Jo thought back over her day. It started when she walked into her office in the Philadelphia FBI office with her first cup of coffee for the day and found her phone ringing. It was her boss, Special Agent Megan Burk, summoning Jo to her office.

When she arrived, she found fellow agent John Larson already there. Agent Burk told them about her Sunday at the restaurant in Carlisle, then had them get on a chopper and fly out to the restaurant to go over her report and walk the scene. She'd asked Larson to review her report with a civilian she called Colonel Abbott who would meet them at the restaurant shortly before 10 a.m. Jo had requested and gotten a copy of the draft report and, because she was one of those people blessed with a total immunity to motion sickness, read it on the relatively short duration chopper ride. It was her first introduction to the event and the apparent heroine of the action, one Annie Walker. Burk had cautioned her that Walker and Anderson's names were classified. Reading the report about what they'd accomplished had caused all sorts of bells to go off in her head. She just couldn't rationalize that conduct with an employee of an art museum.

It was while they were at the restaurant that they got a phone call to take the chopper to a location south of Carlisle where there had been a second terrorist attack ... and defeat at the hands of the same alleged Smithsonian employee. She perked up when Larson said the shooter was still there. She very much wanted to meet the person who had taken down three terrorists in two days. And she did. She had a vivid memory of her aerial view of the site as the chopper had descended. A large white van on its side, a State Police car, and a Corvette parked on the road. Two people near the van. Then it had all been blocked out because they had to land on the other side of the road which was on a high bank.

She remembered jogging up over the roadway and running toward the van with her partner, Larson, struggling to keep up. Her first sight was this slender rather striking blond standing near the van talking to a State Trooper and what was apparently a farmer. She had slowed to let Larson catch up in honor of him being their designated team leader. What followed, while she stayed calm on the outside, left her stunned and a bit in awe of the young woman that had accomplished the take down in the restaurant and then again in a field.

She'd been amazed at the woman's calm, her succinct recounting of events, after Jo had run back to get Larson's recorder from the helicopter. But most of all, the efficiency with which she had managed to take down two well-armed terrorists who had to have surprised her with their appearance. While she had been back at the helicopter, she'd called Burk and asked if Annie was CIA. The answer was yes, and that's why her participation is classified.

Now here she was, sitting on a chair with the terrorist Walker had captured for them, waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to send someone to take charge of him. The contrast between her situation and that of Annie Walker was not lost on her.

**7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Day 2:**

When he'd finally shown up, the meeting with Supervisory Special Agent In Charge Rossabi, the evening before, had been short and to the point. They were relieved of custody for the prisoner, directed to stay someplace local and to come in the next day.

When Jo and Larson arrived in the morning at the designated time, they learned that a high-priced lawyer had shown up in response to the kid's phone call. He had told the kid to keep his mouth firmly shut and told him that they couldn't charge him with anything more than aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a Federal Officer and maybe not even that since he had not personally assaulted the Federal Officer in any way. The lawyer completely ignored the terrorist implications of the laptop they'd confiscated.

**5p.m. Tuesday, Day 2:**

Jo was worn out from just watching a day of exhausting zero progress with Larson and Rossabi interrogating Ansari. Late in the day, Rossabi had decided to take off the gloves and called in Department of Homeland Security. The DHS agent, who had apparently been prepping for this moment, had come in and said, "We have a positive link between you and the terrorist attack in the Carlisle restaurant. The ammo from the restaurant shooters' weapons is from the same lot as the ammo in the shotguns in the van. Documentation we found in the van further confirms your involvement. You will be charged as an adult in any subsequent proceedings. Between now and then, you will be put in indefinite sterile detention because you had your eighteenth birthday two days before the restaurant attack."

In spite of his lawyer's protest, Ansari asked, "What is sterile detention?"

The DHS Agent had replied, "It means sterile. Devoid of stimulation of any kind. Zero access. No phone. No computer. No television. Not even a digital watch. Just a bunk, toilet, sink, and four white walls."

Jo could read the young man's reactions from his facial expressions. It was obvious that they'd just opened the door to his worst nightmare. He still didn't talk, but, in the post interrogation conference with Agent Rossabi, the consensus was to let him stew on it over night. She learned later they had taken everything away from him, including his digital watch, and placed him in a pure white cell with no noise, not even elevator music. There were no other inmates, nothing but blank walls and a surveillance camera.

Larson left that night to fly back to Philadelphia. Jo was allowed to stay so she could watch the interrogation for another day.

The next day, Wednesday, was spent in negotiations with his lawyer. After a talk with her supervisory agent, Megan Burk, Larson left but Jo was allowed to stay and observe because it was a good learning experience. One of the things she observed was that Ansari's lawyer appeared to be in contact with someone on the outside. From the way the lawyer acted, Jo didn't think it was Robert's parents, but they weren't able to find out who because they weren't able to legally monitor the lawyer's phone calls. There was little to no progress all day Wednesday. Every time they thought they had an agreement, the lawyer threw in a new demand. It wasn't until late Thursday afternoon, when Rossabi said, "Okay, the heck with this, you're out of here," that the interrogation turned in their favor.

Jo was still watching through the glass when two big beefy guys in uniform, she later learned they were Federal Marshals, showed up to lead him away. When the lead Federal Marshal said, "We're taking you to the airport. You will be flown to Guantanamo Bay. You may grow old and die there. This is probably your last plane ride," Jo saw from his expression that Ansari realized the lawyer was not his friend.

His next words were, "I want to see Agent Rossabi without my lawyer. Please let me see him."

Jo called Rossabi, got voice mail, so she called her boss, Agent Burk. When she answered, Jo said, "Megan, Ansari wants to meet with us without his lawyer present. Please let me stop them from taking him to the plane."

"I can't."

"Why?

"I have no cause, but you can. You saw this. Heard him ask. It's on the tape? Right? Go tell the wardens to wait. They shouldn't argue with you."

"Gotta go."

Jo hung up and got outside the observation room in time to sprint down the hall and intercept the three just moments before they got on the elevator. Skidding to a stop, she held up her badge and said, "I'm FBI Special Agent Jo Bell. Please return the prisoner, Robert Ansari, to the interrogation room and stand by. I want to give him a chance to meet with Agent Rossabi without his lawyer. This could be the break we have been waiting for."

One of the two, apparently the leader of this team, said, "First of all, we are Federal Marshals. We have orders to take this man to a waiting plane for transport to Gitmo. Period. Do you have other orders?"

"No, but I just witnessed what he said to you in the box, and I want to give him a chance to make good on that offer. We need access to data only he has. I don't want to be responsible for finding out we could have prevented another terrorist attack if we'd only given him a chance to tell us what we think he knows. Please give me at least an hour with him?"

The two Marshals looked at each other. The apparent team leader said, "We have plenty of time. The plane doesn't leave for six hours. You get your hour. But first, we need to report in. Let's get Robert here back to the room. Come on Robert."

Seeing the young man's evident relief, Jo decided to bond with the Federal Marshals a little as they walked their prisoner back to the interrogation room. "Thank you. Who are you guys anyway?"

"I'm Marshal Twining, this is Marshal Fredrick. You are Special Agent Jo Bell? Jo as in 'Jay Oh', no 'e'?"

"Yes, well technically Mary Jo Bell, but everybody calls me Jo." She grinned and added, "Nobody, except my brother, calls me Josie and lives."

"Roger that. Okay, Jo, we got him here. If you can't get a hold of Agent Rossabi, do you want to interrogate him yourself?"

"Let's talk outside, okay?"

"Uh, sure," the lead Marshall said, and they all left the room with Robert cuffed to the bar in the center of the table.

Once they were outside, Jo said, "Definitely. I'd love the opportunity. If I get Rossabi's voice mail again, I don't want to waste this opportunity. Would you be willing to watch from the observation room and make sure the video and audio are being recorded?"

"Sure, we've done that before. I know where the controls are. Let's get it turned on before you go in there. I have some experience that says you want the recorder rolling before you enter the room so there's no doubt the whole thing is on tape."

Jo was grateful for his expertise and said, "Great. Let me try for Rossabi again."

She found his name in the recent calls and touched it. She experienced a strange bit of relief and disappointment when he answered, "Rossabi."

"SSA Rossabi, the prisoner Robert Ansari has asked to see you without his lawyer present. I have the request on video. The Federal Marshal's say his flight isn't for another six hours, so there is time to interrogate him without his lawyer present before he leaves.

"Is he back in the box?"

"Yes"

"Don't question him. Just give him some water, and tell him I'll be there in twenty minutes. We need to keep a lid on this till we know what we have."

"Yes sir," was all she got out when she realized the call had been terminated on his end. She sighed and went back into the observation room to update the two Marshals. "Guys, Agent Rossabi said he will be here in twenty minutes. I'm to give the prisoner some water and tell him Agent Rossabi is on the way, but I was told not to interrogate him myself. Can you wait here while this takes place? We may need more than an hour."

The Marshal nodded, so Jo went in to see Ansari. He looked up at her expectantly, and she said, "You will get your request granted. I have talked to Agent Rossabi. He'll be here in twenty minutes or so. Meanwhile, I'm going to go get you some water. Would you like something else?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"I've been told not to interrogate you myself, and you asked for Agent Rossabi. I can get you some water, or maybe you would like a soda?"

The young man looked at her for a long moment; then she saw what looked like surrender in his eyes before he slumped in his chair and said, "I'd love an ice cold Coke Classic. Big one. I live on those when I'm writing code."

Jo recognized the beginning of a connection, but, given her orders, she had to do as instructed, with the deviation of ice cold Coke Classic in place of water. She said, "Let me see if they have it. Be right back."

She got up and left for the vending machine room a floor down. She was pretty sure they were Coke machines, not Pepsi, and there was at least a chance they had Coke Classic. At this point, whatever got him into the mood to talk was good as far as she could tell. She wanted to just sit down and engage him in a conversation, but that wasn't allowed.

She returned to the interrogation room with the requested frosty can of Coke Classic and opened it for him over the corner wastebasket just in case it foamed. It didn't, so she gave it to the young man and watched him take a big swallow from the can. The look of pleasure on his face gave her some measure of hope that this wasn't all in vain.

She stepped back into the observation room just in time for Agent Rossabi's early arrival. He entered the room and asked the Federal Marshals to wait in the break room two floors down. They knew where it was and left. Then he said, "I'm going to do this alone. You head back to Philly. I've got this."

Jo said, "If you want me to-"

Rossabi interrupted with, "I want you to leave, go home, nothing else."

"Agent Burk said this was a good-"

She was interrupted again with, "Agent Burk needs to leave this alone now. We have jurisdiction over this. Go back to Philadelphia and get on with whatever you were working on before this started."

At that point, the expression on Rossabi's face didn't book an argument, so she said, "Yes sir," turned and left without looking back.

She was to learn, much later, that it would have been a good idea to get Agent Burk into it on her side and listen to the interrogation. It might have saved a lot of lives.

**8 p.m. Tuesday, Day 2: **

Almost immediately after Rossabi entered the room, Ansari had started to talk. Pumped by the sugar rush and caffeine from the Classic Coke he'd spilled out his story with nothing but a few guiding questions from Agent Rossabi. Then suddenly he clammed up. Rossabi had two specialists assigned and had a transcript of Ansari's interrogation in hand by 4:00 a.m. He mentally reviewed what he'd learned.

Ansari had been born into a Muslim family that had immigrated to the US. He was raised, educated, indoctrinated in the religion, and even brainwashed in a Madrasa in Minnesota for 6 months. Because he was raised in the US and had attended several years of public school, he didn't exactly buy into the Jihad thing, but he couldn't escape that it was thrown in his face every day either. For him, personal involvement began when his computer skills were noticed. He'd hacked into a local police network and gotten a bunch of information that he boasted about to his fellow students at the Madrasa. The word filtered back to Philadelphia, and he was recruited by Amir Assam, who covered him with an alibi after he got in trouble. He'd become sort of indentured to Assam after that.

His real specialty was hacking into government databases. He was amazingly good at the social engineering required to deduce passwords.

His involvement in part of the mission planning was how he got involved in the Middletown Diner strike and other planned operations. It was the additional strikes, including one planned for the War College campus, which motivated the investment of time and resources by the Philadelphia Terrorist Cell in Carlisle area. That included breaking into the traffic camera system.

Robert had worked with a student named Charlie Watson, an Information Systems Major at Shippensburg College. Watson had a part time job with the contractor that maintained the traffic cameras in Carlisle and Shippensburg. Ansari had obtained the password to the traffic camera video archive through Watson's carelessness. Watson had so many passwords to keep track of he maintained an unencrypted plain text password file on his computer in a folder named passwords.

Rossabi continued his review glancing over the data about Ansari's password source.

Male. Charlie Watson. Described by Ansari as not Islamic. Rossabi thought it might be significant that Watson wasn't called an 'infidel' by Ansari. But he shook that off and continued to review the data, as he knew it, from Ansari.

Watson was not a radical of any sort. He was just a hacker: not vicious, not malicious, just curious, and fascinated by technology. The connection to the Ansari was hacking – nothing else. They met on the web in an underground forum to which both had migrated. It was an online meeting place for like-minded hackers. Ansari said that Watson had absolutely no idea about his Islamic Extremist connections.

Ansari discovered the password file when he was left alone with Watson's computer while the student was in the bathroom and then in the kitchen of his apartment grabbing snacks. Robert had dumped the plain text file to the memory stick he habitually carried in a couple of seconds.

Rossabi remembered being impressed by how this kid had managed to track down Walker and Anderson. He'd use the video he and his now dead partner took in the parking lot to identify Annie and Auggie. He based it on the 'third man's' description: blonde, pink vest, jeans, of the woman he had seen through the window ruining his terrorist attack. It was a brief glimpse before he had to duck flying glass from the window and avoid being shot himself, but it was enough. He was also able to get the license plate number and state off the video from the parking lot. The car had a Virginia plate that told him it was likely to leave town heading south. Then, they parked in a Panera parking lot on the VA side of town where he'd found an open Wi-Fi from the restaurant. He was able to scan traffic cameras at likely exit points from the city to determine the Corvette hadn't left. They'd had to move the van for the night because they didn't want to attract attention in the restaurant parking lot. He had his partner drove around by the park near where he'd found the open Wi-Fi the next morning. He got lucky when he saw video that showed the car going south on 34 at the traffic light near a Sheetz station. It was only 30 minutes ahead of them, so they called "The Third Man" for instructions. His reply had been, "Go kill the infidels."

They'd started up the van and left to intercept the Corvette.

Ansari broke down a few times during his confession about what happened after they spotted the 'Vette. First, he'd been terrified when they chased it at high speed down this country road with his partner swearing and cursing the van for being so slow. Then the driver had misjudged the corner and crashed.

Next thing he knew, his partner was cursing him as he tried to recover from the trauma of the accident. Apparently, it had been quite painful for him even though he'd had his seat belt on. Nothing in the van was tied down, and it flew everywhere when the van flipped. He said the noise was awful.

Then, when they had finally gotten themselves free, the back door wouldn't open. He hadn't heard anything from outside the van, so when his partner had managed to get one of the AK47's sorted out of the clutter, place it on the side of the van and hoist himself up after it only to suddenly fall back in almost on top of him spurting blood with a huge hole where the back of his head had been, he was paralyzed with fear and surrendered.

The real interesting revelation was that he had plans for the planned suicide bomber strike on the War College on his hard drive in a password-protected file. He didn't give up the password, but Rossabi had learned that the cell leader, Amir Nassir, couldn't get locals to wear explosive vests and martyr themselves. That had resulted in importing someone from Yemen to do it. He had also learned that the bomber was in Pennsylvania and assembling materials for his bomb. They planned to use a delivery truck bomb. The truck would be driven by the suicide bomber, who would set it off even if he couldn't escape.

Rossabi printed the transcript, had Ansari sign it, and then faxed it to his boss. He decided he should write a short report summarizing it and send it to Burk, but he decided to wait until he'd had some sleep. The report was written the next morning but not sent outside the FBI because his boss called and said not to tell anyone about this, yet. When Rossabi objected that the CIA people were in danger, he was told that was being handled through the proper channels, and that he didn't need to do anything. Unwilling to disobey a direct order, he dropped it and moved on to other cases that were in work.

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**AN:** I'd certainly appreciate you sharing your thoughts in a comment. It's how I learn. Should Rossabi alert Annie and Auggie anyway? Are they really in danger?

07/17/2013


	3. Chapter 3

**Previously, at the end of chapter 1:**

_"Auggie, you will have me all emotional here in a minute, but thank you. It means so much more from you than anyone else." Annie let him know she was going to move with her hand, then started down the stairs and said, "Now I really need to get in front of a monitor. I need a quiet place to watch this video from the restaurant, and to see Stu's video of the chase as captured on the pursuit software, the state trooper video, and the tape of the open phone. Uh ... Don't want to do that on my desk with an audience. Will you let me use that desk in your Tech Ops area where the monitor isn't visible through the glass doors?"_

_"Sure."_

**9:30 AM Tuesday,**** Day 2:**** DPD All Hands Meeting.**

By design, Annie and Auggie arrived early for the meeting . They sat where Annie could watch their coworkers arrive . The room filled rapidly . Annie rested her shoulder against Auggie's and said softly, "I was expecting only field personnel, but she's apparently invited all hands. The administrative assistants and all the support people are here too. So are all the analysts and the translators."

"Aside from our names, this is a completely unclassified event. Maybe she wants to include them because she can. She is letting you give pretty much the same briefing to Danielle when she arrives."

"Do you suppose she intends to give everybody a lecture on situational awareness? You and I, and I presume the other field personnel, do it by habit. We don't even think about it. Joan would know that."

Annie kept watching for a few minutes, and when Joan walked to the front, she reached for Auggie's hand and said, "She has the remote, and you doubtless heard the big screen come down." She got an answering squeeze from him. They didn't have long to wait.

Joan called back to Stu who was just inside the door, "Stu, would you close the door?"

Annie saw Arthur arrive and stand in the back of the room . Stu closed the door after he had a final check to ensure no one else was still coming. She saw Stu was a little flustered . Arthur smiled at him and placed a fatherly hand briefly on his shoulder which settled Stu right down.

Joan looked over her department and began to talk. "As most of you probably know, from the extensive, but remarkably uninformative news coverage, there was a terrorist attack in Carlisle, Pennsylvania last Sunday morning. It was a vicious attack in a crowded restaurant by two active shooters armed with shotguns. The apparent objective was killing or seriously injuring much of the teaching staff at the Army War College which is located in Carlisle. I invited you here because I want you to hear, in detail, about that attack and how it was defeated by the lone woman: the now famous, if anonymous," Joan raised her hand and put quotes in the air as she continue to say, "_Hot__ Blond with a gun_, whose picture was in all the papers and on the 24/7 news cycle." She lowered her hands and gave a hint of a smile, as chatter broke out amongst the staff. She waited for everyone to finish. "What you may not know, because it hasn't been on the news, is that the organization which sponsored the terrorists identified, tracked down and tried to kill that woman shooter and her companion in the middle of Carlisle farm country yesterday morning. She fought back, killed one of the two that came after her and held the other one for the authorities.

Because of the terrorist involvement, and some other reasons you will understand soon enough, I was invited to accompany the FBI to the scene of the restaurant attack. I was able to get a good first hand view of the scene of the attack and be part of the analysis of what happened there. It was a very informative day for me, for lots of reasons. There are a lot of lessons in what happened there for all of us, including myself and Arthur Campbell, who is also here. The plan for this morning is for me to give you an overview of what happened, from my point of view, both Sunday and yesterday mornings. Then I've arranged for you to be briefed, in as much detail as she is willing to provide, on both events, in this room, by the woman shooter herself. We also have video of the attack inside the restaurant and a detailed, simulated video playback of the terrorists chasing the shooter through the Pennsylvania country side Monday morning before she was able to take them down." A bit parched after such a long monolog, Joan lifted a glass of water to her lips and took several mouthfuls.

Annie heard a collective intake of breath when Joan announced the shooter would be there, in the room. She saw a hand go up near the front of the room, and then she saw Joan shake her head and say, "You can ask all the questions you want later, when the shooter is up here. For now, I want to give you a brief overview. If you have a simplified, factual outline of what took place, it will be easier to follow the video. There is a lot that happened in a very short time."

The hand came down, and Joan continued, "Stu, would you put up the slide of the restaurant floor plan?" A few seconds later, a simplified restaurant floor plan was projected on the screen. It showed a proportionally correct outline drawing of the restaurant floor plan; the booths, tables and chairs were included, so were small figures representing where patrons were sitting. Enough of the parking lot was included to show about where the car Annie saw them take the shotguns from was parked.

Joan stood off to the left of the screen, from the audience's point of view. She used her laser pointer in her left hand and gave them a thorough orientation to the chart. She pointed out the entryway, the window that allowed a view of the entryway from the annex and the main dining room, the parking lot and the windows to the parking lot. She was careful to indicate where the woman shooter stood when she first saw something suspicious. She also pointed out the partition that ran from the front to the back of the restaurant and how it separated the annex from the main dining room. She located the two arches through which the terrorists attacked. And finally, her laser pointer hovered over the long line of tables where the targets were seated.

"The woman, who I'll call the defender, stood here, about to take her seat, when she looked around and saw two people in the parking lot, there. They attracted her attention because they were dressed in jackets way to warm for the 70 plus Fahrenheit morning temperature. She was curious and continued to watch them. A few moments later she saw them look around, take pistol grip shotguns out of the trunk of a car and tuck them under their jackets. When they started to hurry toward the front door of the restaurant, she concluded the restaurant was about to be attacked. She told her companion what she thought was about to happen and asked him to call for help. Then she shouted, as loudly as she could, for people to get down, that there were two armed terrorists about to enter the restaurant.

"The two came into the entry way at the front of the restaurant. One of them shot a patron in the face that tried to grab their shotguns. Then they entered the main dining room through these doors." Joan traced the terrorist's path on the floor plan with her laser as she spoke. "The entry way has an outside door, a hallway about twenty feet long, and then a double swinging glass doorway on the left into the main dining room. There is a window in the wall between the restaurant and the entryway. The defender was able to track the movement of the attackers as they came into the restaurant and also saw the patron get shot. The hostess stand is just to the right of the main entrance door as you enter the restaurant. Once they were inside, they yelled 'Allah Akbar'. Right after that yell, they each fired one shot out over the patrons in the main dining room. Then they split up and followed separate paths toward their targets: the long table full of War College Professors that was here, just beyond the defender.

"One of them, I'll call him T1, ran through this front archway toward the long table of colonels that are the War College teaching staff. The defender had a civilian concealed carry permit and was armed with a Glock 26. While they were still by the hostess station she figured out their likely target and decided on a plan to take them down. She knelt on the floor, here, by this table, and waited to ambush them. You will be able to see her clearly in the video.

"The terrorist took his first shot at the colonels from about here, which you can see was about right over the head of the defender. His shot went high and smashed one of the windows on the parking lot side of the restaurant about here.

"He was trying to rack another round into his shotgun when he crossed the end of this aisle between the tables. The defender was tracking him and shot him four times when he got about here. He was hit twice in the torso, twice in the head. Then, as you will see in the video, she quickly head checked left and right, spun around 180 degrees, still kneeling, and got ready for T2 to come through this archway on his way to take shots at the long table full of colonels.

"T2, apparently unaware of the fate of his partner, continued his attack. He took a shot at the colonels as well when he was about here. He also shot high and took out another of the windows to the parking lot. When he crossed the end of this aisle, about right in front of this table of four people, the defender took four shots at his head. The distance was nearly fifty feet, the attacker was running."

Annie heard the audience gasp doubtless thinking about the four people that were shown at the table on the other side of the terrorists, right in her line of fire. Joan heard it too and acknowledged it by saying, "I know you are worried about these four people." She put her laser dot in the middle of the table. "They are clearly directly in the defender's line of fire. There was risk to be sure, but they were not hit. The defender, who, as fate would have it, is a world class combat handgun fighter ... I know, the terrorists run into a restaurant, in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, and right across the line of fire of one of the best gunfighters in the country, maybe on the planet. Go figure? Not their lucky day." There was a strained chuckle from the audience.

"Anyway, she fired from a low kneeling stance. She had deliberately sat back on her right foot, her left leg up and out slightly to the side to brace herself, so her angle of fire tracked above the patrons at that table if they stayed seated. I asked, and she told me; she'd have had to fire even if one of them stood up, but they didn't."

Someone in the front of the room gasped, "My God."

Joan responded, "Yeah, that was my reaction too. Whole lot going on, lot of tough choices, in a very short time.

"Anyway, when T2 was about here, she fired four rapid fire shots, two sets of double taps actually, at his head. I'll tell you where the shots hit. I don't know which shots in the string hit where, and neither does she. She hit him twice in the head; one shot took out his central nervous system and killed him instantly. A third shot hit his shotgun receiver in front of his face, the fourth shot missed high and hit the restaurant wall. The distance from her muzzle to his head was 53 feet near as we could tell. He was running at almost exactly ninety degrees to the line of fire. Actually, both of them were running at ninety degrees to the line of fire. She made seven hits on some part of the target out of eight shots at both left to right and right to left running targets under combat stress - she was in a fight for her life. That is some pretty incredible shooting.

"At this point, I think you have heard enough from me. I was going to give you a similar overview of what happened Monday morning, but I think the woman who did it can tell you better than I can. So let me introduce you to the blond who took down those terrorists. She's one of our own, Annie Walker; her companion at the restaurant was our own Auggie Anderson.

Annie stood and blinked as all the heads in the room snapped to look at her. The room had been expectedly quiet during Joan's talk. Now, for a few seconds, there wasn't even the sound of breathing as they got their minds around what they heard, and saw Annie stand up. Annie was suddenly extremely self-conscious; then it got worse because they all jumped to their feet and started to cheer and applaud so loudly it hurt her ears. The sound was deafening. She grabbed Auggie and pulled him up with her. He tried to resist; she bent over and yelled in his ear, "Come up there with me, dammit. I'm not doing this alone."

Reluctantly Auggie rose, and the noise got even louder. With Annie to guide him, they made it to the front of the room. Annie and Auggie got hugs and handshakes from every direction but finally made it to their destination as Joan motioned for silence. The noise didn't abate until Annie turned to them, and motioned for them to be quiet by placing her finger to her lips in the traditional 'shush' signal. The room went from chaos to quiet in a few seconds as people sat down.

Annie looked out over the audience and saw nothing but pride and approval in their eyes. No doubt, no accusation. Just approval and expectation for her part of the program. It did a lot to give her confidence.

"Thank you. That level of acceptance is truly appreciated, especially from this group. I know there are several of you who could have, and would have, done what I did. I was sitting in the right place. I was armed. I was the answer to the evil men with guns. I was the good guy with a gun."

That set off another round of applause that Annie was able to subdue after a couple of moments by holding up her hands and asking for quiet. She had the room in the palm of her hand at that moment. She saw Joan move way off to one side but stay standing. Then she began to speak.

"First of all, I wasn't alone. This was a team effort. The companion Joan referred to was Auggie Anderson, who you all know. The other member of the team on the following morning was Stu Hetherton, sitting right back there. Stu was instrumental in the success of the take down Monday morning. More about that later.

"I think the next thing to do is show you the video. Stu has edited it down to the point where it deals with the attack and about a minute of the immediate aftermath. He shows the attack 4 times in the video. Once for each of the four cameras that caught any of it, and a fourth time as a correctly time spliced sequence of segments taking the best of the four cameras without too much jumping around.

"I'm going to warn you this is an extremely violent video. You will see three people shot to death, one by the terrorists, two by me in the space of about a minute. I expect you to watch it, but it will help to know what you are going to see." She paused, looked at one of the women in the front row, who nodded her assent back, so she said, "Okay, good. Stu, you ready?"

Stu called back, "Yes,"

The video played out. It was rather graphic because the relatively new cameras and high-density digital storage allowed it to be in color at full standard TV quality. It showed blood and brain matter spraying out of the terrorists' heads. Even though this was the fourth time she'd seen it, Annie was amazed at how calm and smooth she looked. The view of her face as she pulled the trigger showed nothing but a scary, implacable, deadly focus. There was no mercy on her face at all. The look on her face would have scared her if it were anybody else.

After it was over, one the field agents who sat in the front asked, "May we see that again?"

Annie said, "Sure. Stu?"

"Yup. Here you go," and the video started again with the two terrorists bursting through the doors by the hostess station.

When it was over, Annie asked if there were any questions. One of the male field agents near the front of the room raised his hand. Annie nodded at him and he asked, "Annie, you shot two running men in the head at what look like distances of 25 and 50 feet under conditions of full on combat stress with a baby Glock and had six good hits out of eight shots. You were in a full on adrenaline rage, right? That's incredible combat shooting. I don't know anybody who shoots like that. At least not until right now. You did it twice. Annie, that wasn't luck that was world class skill. Where on earth did you learn to shoot like that?"

Annie looked at Joan in a panic because she could not and would not reveal anything about Frank. Joan came to her rescue and said, "Mark, she can't tell you. It's literally classified. If it makes you feel any better, I had no idea she could shoot like that until I met her in the restaurant last Sunday morning. I've watched this video a dozen times. It has been a huge learning experience for me. The training was something she got on her own, but we aren't at liberty to share where she got it. And before you say that's not fair, it isn't fair. I'd love for all of you to have that training, but it's only available to a select few. It's by invitation only. Nobody I know can arrange for an invite. Annie had a sponsor who will remain nameless."

The questions came fast and furious for a while, and then began to slow down. Annie answered those she could, and when she had no answer, she said so. Finally came the question she was dreading. One of the female agents, seated a row or two behind Mark, asked, "Annie, what made you do that? You had time to get out; you probably could have gotten Auggie out because he'd respond perfectly, but you didn't. You figured it all out, literally in seconds, hung in there and took them down at great personal risk. What were you thinking? Were you scared?"

"Ellen, I wasn't thinking. I wasn't scared. I was blood boiling angry. What you saw on that video was full on adrenaline rage. Pure rage. I was focused on taking them down. I just couldn't let those guys come and slaughter those innocent people or Auggie. Not going to happen as long as I have a pulse."

Another female agent asked, "Annie, I have heard through the grapevine that this isn't the first time you've had to kill someone, but it's the first time it wasn't as part of a mission. You were basically a civilian on vacation in the wrong place at the right time. How are you dealing with it?"

"It always hits me the first night I think I'm safe. Something in my head lets its guard down, and I go through hell. I woke up dripping wet screaming and struggling three times last night. I almost gave Auggie a black eye in my sleep. He had to change the sheets while I took a shower. I soaked them. I was a mess. In my dreams, I lose the fight. The nightmares are always about losing. I'll get over it. I have before; this time will be no different, but it comes with a price. The other side of it is, I never think of losing while the fight is going on. It never occurred to me that I wasn't going to take those guys down."

One of the administrative assistants asked, "Why did you even have a gun? You were on holiday. Why did you think you would need one? - I mean, it's your job to kill people but-"

"NO!" Annie heard her own voice shouting and stopped to calm down. Then she said, "Sorry, for shouting that; it's an honest mistake and a respectable question. I'll answer it. But I want to be perfectly clear on this. It isn't my job to kill people. I'm not an assassin, a paid killer." Annie turned a really hard face in the direction of the girl that asked the question. The look was ferocious enough that the girl squealed in fear and sat back, but Annie didn't hesitate, "My job, the job of all the field agents, is to manipulate people to get information so I can protect my country. I've never ever killed anyone that wasn't trying to kill me. Period."

She paused, then her expression changed and she looked around at the rest of the room and said, "Look, it's very simple. I never go anyplace I think I'll need a gun when I'm off duty. I'm not a fool. If I thought I'd need a gun, I wouldn't go there. Sometimes, on a mission, I don't have a choice but to go in harm's way, but off duty, I try to stay out of harm's way. On the other hand, we were a small, helpless female, a ditsy _'blond',_ and a blind guy in an expensive collector car: Auggie's 1967 427 Corvette Roadster. It doesn't matter where we go; someone might think we are easy pickings. I decided long ago that I would never be a willing victim. If anybody wants to do me harm, they better be ready to pay the price, and I'll make it as high as I can."

She looked right at the girl who had provoked all this, softened her expression and said, "Meg, you've lived a sheltered life. I haven't. I know you didn't mean any harm with your question, but when you find yourself in the middle of a gunfight, you really really want to have a gun. I learned that the hard way. Trust me on this, carrying a gun requires dedication and effort. But it's a hell of a lot better than being killed. I know, I was shot once when I was ambushed, and I didn't have a gun. I highly recommend that if you live where you can get one, you get a concealed carry permit, take the classes, learn handgun safety, get a gun, practice with it and carry it everywhere it's legal. In Virginia, you can get a permit relatively easily. In DC, forget about it."

The questions stopped after that, so Annie said, "Okay, no more questions on the restaurant? Good, let's move on to Monday morning. Auggie and I stayed the night with friends in Carlisle rather than try to drive back here. I was a mess. I'd had a huge adrenaline dump into my system and wasn't in any shape to drive back. We were lucky to have friends with a garage where we could hide the car. We weren't home yet, and I slept like a baby."

She went on to cover all the good practice she followed: the phone call, getting permission to carry her gun in Maryland (though she did not tell them about her federal permit). She went over changing to put on the Glock, up to where the van showed up in the mirror.

Stu put up a chart on one side of the screen and then projected the video he'd made up with the phone conversation properly synced to the play back of the computer monitor tracking her progress. Then it played through again with the state trooper video speeded up to sync with the sound and the GPS data. The sound was remarkably clear for the circumstances.

Once again, it was dead silent in the room except for the sounds of the pursuit. There were some gasps as they saw the moving dot reverse after she reported the van had rolled, and then the sounds continued as she came to a stop, yelled at Auggie, then you can hear Auggie talking to Joan with sounds of him moving around the car. Auggie is on the line with Joan when they hear five shots. Then a few seconds later they hear Annie call to Auggie sounding like she is a long way off. Then she and Auggie exchange reassurances. They heard Auggie talk to 911, and the chopper landing. Then the recording stopped as Auggie got back in the car and ended the call.

Once again Mark had the first question, "If you can tell me, without having to kill me, where did you learn to drive like that? You were going a hundred and thirty five on a two-lane road a couple of times in that sequence. You were on hills, gravel, and yet the computer screen indicates you averaged just over 90 mph including corners. That's some seriously impressive driving."

"It's an impressive car. That car pulls the skin back on your cheeks when you floor it. It's a handfull, but it's a blast to drive fast. But, to answer your question, I did some ice racing in Sweden in my youth, drove on German Autobahns back when if you only went 100 miles per hour you'd get run over, and participated in performance sports car rallies when I lived in Europe. I've always been good at driving fast. I've had no special training other than that and the course every field agent gets on The Farm. I have to add, Auggie and Stu helped me a lot during that chase."

"How?"

"You heard Stu telling me what was coming, how fast the car could take the corners?"

"Yes."

"Stu wasn't guessing; he knew he was right."

"How?"

"Auggie had put a parametric performance model of his car into the pursuit software's library of cars. Stu used that with the projected performance part of the program to see how fast the program thought the car could take the corners and relayed that information to me."

"How were you able to talk on the phone anyway?"

"Auggie was sitting next to me, braced against the seat holding the phone by my ear through that whole ride, and never once did he flinch. If it wasn't for Auggie and Stu, I wouldn't have been able to go nearly that fast. I'd have outrun the van, but I wouldn't have been able to sucker them into an accident.

Then Mark asked, "Auggie, how did you like the ride; what was this like from your … perspective."

Auggie replied, "If I'd been able to see, I'd have needed clean underwear," and got a laugh. "But she was so smooth I really didn't realize how fast we were going till now. Seriously, she hauled that car down so smoothly into that sharp turn that rolled the van, I wouldn't have realized just how hard we were driving if it weren't for the howl of the tortured tires and the rocking from adhesion changes. She didn't jerk the car around at all. She was so hard on the brakes I couldn't push myself back against the seat, and then she accelerated so hard it pulled the skin back on my face, but she didn't jerk the car. All the transitions were right at the limit of adhesion but really smooth, no jerking. She just gets maximum traction. I hope never to have another ride that close to the edge of destruction. But if I do, I want her to be the one driving. Trust me on this, if I could load that ride on a DVD, it would sell like hotcakes."

Another field agent asked, "I heard five gun shots near the end. Would you talk us through what happened after the chase stopped?"

Annie said, "Yes, I will, and I intended to before the questions started. Let me get through the rest of this before you ask more questions. Stu, please put up the slide that shows the picture of the area that the State Police took on their way in to land."

Annie talked them through the seconds after she got out of the car; used the aerial picture plus the ones she had taken with her phone camera to show them how it went. With Joan's approval, she showed them the pictures of the dead guy in the van and the prisoner tied up in front of the van.

When she was done, there was one question from Mark again, "How did they find you? Are you two still targets?"

"Second question first. I don't think so. they were the last cell members we have any record of. I haven't heard anything from the FBI that says they know of any more of them. I have no clue how they found us, but I can hardly wait to find out. I hope someone is working their ass off trying to answer that as we speak. I won't feel safe till I know."

At that point, noting that it was nearly 2:00 in the afternoon and nobody had gotten lunch, Joan took over the microphone and said, "That's all folks. Let me remind you again, the fact that Annie was the shooter and that Auggie was there is top secret, need to know. We do not want that getting out. Okay, take a break, get some lunch, and get back to work."

As the people filed out, Joan came over to Auggie and Annie and said, "Thanks. That went even better than I thought it would. It isn't often we get to let an officer tell their story. But this wasn't classified, so I thought it was a good time to let the support staff and the other field personnel that are here know how one of their own did it."

While Joan was talking, Annie saw Arthur walking over and noticed Megan waiting outside the door. She looked at Joan, then at Arthur. Arthur said, "Annie, we need to talk. That was an impressive presentation. I'll make some time for you next week. I think you need to recover from this, anyone would. But for now, I must say, well done." He offered her his hand.

Annie took it with some trepidation. She could see Arthur notice, then he said, "Annie, Joan showed me all that early this morning right after Stu finished his all night-er putting it together. I watched your presentation because I wanted to see your candid responses to the questions, unfiltered reasons for why you did what you did given the options available. Between this and your performance on the Kalid Ansari mission, I'm really impressed. So don't be worried; I approve, completely, but I do want to talk."

Annie saw nothing but sincerity in Arthur's eyes, flicked her gaze to Joan and saw the same thing there, so she said, "Thank you, sir. Let me know when your schedule is free, and I'd be happy to talk."

"Deal. Auggie, well done. You continue to be an amazing asset. Okay, I need to go. I'm needed on the hill." He turned, touched Joan's arm so that she turned with him, and left with Joan by his side.

Auggie took Annie's arm and said, "Let's get some lunch. I don't want to be here anymore right now." As she approached the door, she saw Megan waiting outside, so she said to Auggie, "Give me a minute with Megan. She's waiting outside the door for me. I think I scared her, and she needs to know we're good."

"Okay, I'll head back to Tech. Ops. Give me a call when you are ready to go to home."

Annie gave him a squeeze, let him go and turned toward Megan, making sure to put a smile on her face. As she approached, Megan involuntarily took a step back but stopped obviously summoning her courage but on the verge of tears. She said, "Annie, I'm sorry-"

Annie didn't slow down, continued right up to her, gave her a hug, and said, "It's okay. We're good."

She let her go and stepped back. Megan still looked distraught and said, "Mark … Mark said I ca … ca … alled you a k … k … killer, and I did, and I didn't mean to. Annie that was so awful of me. I'm so sorry. You looked at me, and I thought I was going to die. My heart just stopped."

"I know you didn't intend for it to come out like that, Megan. And I apologize for over reacting. I'm still pretty raw and bleeding inside from being forced to kill three people in two days when I was on vacation, for gosh sakes. I've never had to do that on a mission. You did nothing wrong; you didn't mean to hurt me. Joan wanted me here while I was still raw from the experience. I think she wanted you all to see firsthand something of what we've gone through since the last time you saw us. At least she told me she wanted the audience to see the emotions on my face before the shrink managed to mellow them all out. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I've just never seen anyone do what I saw you do on that screen and heard you doing after that incredible drive. Not for real. I've seen movies, but the video today was all real. You could have died, both times. The guy yesterday morning had a machine gun and all you had was a pistol. I've shot a Glock 26. I can't hit crap with it farther away than 15' or so. You were blowing the brains out of running terrorists …" at which point she turned, made it to a wastebasket and vomited. Annie stood between her and the entrance of the bullpen so she was hidden from view, which Megan noticed when she stood back up red in the face.

Annie said, "C'mon, let's go to the ladies room." When Megan turned toward the closest one Annie said, "No, the other one; it's pretty much always empty."

Megan nodded and turned with Annie. She was quiet until they got in the room. Annie said, "Rinse your mouth out and gargle a little. It helps." Then she took a paper towel, dampened it with cold water, and told Megan, "Hold this against your forehead for a couple of minutes. Try to relax."

Annie could see she was still tense so she placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "What's wrong, Megan?"

"You don't hate me, right?"

"No, I absolutely don't. If someone attacked, you I'd protect you. We're on the same side. There is a side of me that kicks in; you saw it on the video in that meeting. It's what the human resources people call my warrior personality. I seldom experience it, but I'm pretty raw right now, and it is a protection mechanism. It serves me well most of the time. It did in the restaurant and the next morning."

"Oh God yes. D … do you think all agents have that?"

"I don't know. I've been told its relatively rare, but probably more covert officers have it on a percentage basis than those in the general population. Why do you ask?"

"I'm dating one of you … and I don't want to live with someone who might look at me like that, ever."

Annie replied much to Megan's astonishment, "Mark is probably nothing like me in that way."

"How did you know?"

"I'm a spy, Megan. It's what I do."

"So you think Mark isn't a warrior?"

"Okay, slow down. First, I don't want to analyze Mark at all. Ever. Second, I don't want to give you opinions about him. I've spent very little time with him outside of meetings, and never in the field. You and Mark need to work through this on your own, together. Period. Nothing I see, or would say, has any relevance. It's all about your credibility and trust with each other."

"I love him, Annie. I don't want to lose him."

"You can't ever have him, never mind lose him, without working through this, and any number of other issues. But let me offer some advice?"

"Yes, please."

"Do it over coffee, or orange juice, or water, or soda pop. No alcohol in the room. Period."

"Okay."

"You good now?"

"Yeah, thanks. I'll take care of the wastebasket I made a mess in."

"Good, come on, I need to get out of here. I'm still on vacation."

* * *

**AN: **Do Annie and Auggie have too much faith in the FBI? Should they be worried? What do you think?

07/17/2013


	4. Chapter 4: No Rest For The Wicked

The Third Man / FW

10

**Chapter 4: No Rest for the Wicked**

**10:00 p.m. Thursday, Day 4: Auggie's Apartment.**

Annie barely made it home to Auggie's without falling asleep at the wheel. The last two days training at Frank's had been exhausting. She'd spent most of the day Wednesday in the shooting house, then was back in there on the second floor where she'd never been before at twilight and later on in the dark of the moonless night till nearly 10:00 PM. Frank had outdone himself in the shooting house with distractions, strobe lights, stun grenades, and teargas. At one point he had her shoot her G19 with the suppressor on it for over two hours, the heavy forward weight left her right wrist sore and aching even now, but she couldn't avoid a little grin to herself because her shooting had been dead on, suppressor and all. Frank had even complemented her on it.

Frank had her up early Thursday. They'd gone through all manner of shooting drills on the outdoor ranges which had included running and shooting, diving over obstacles and shooting, rolling under things and shooting, shooting while climbing a rope, shooting while descending a rope, till she finally had to sit down and get her breath, gulp down some Full Throttle, and go right back at it. Frank had kept her at it until 7:30 p.m., and then told her to get her stuff, grab a snack, and be out of there by 9:00 because he had another class coming in.

They did a debrief on the training. He said he would send a report to Joan detailing what exercises they had practiced. He was thorough, but the tone was different since her debrief of the restaurant shooting. It was more like he was working with a peer than the Master - Student relationship to which she was accustomed. The change in their relationship was apparently agreeable to Frank. She worried she might have been too tired to hide the pride she took in her new status, but she relaxed when he said, "Annie, you did yourself proud both days. I'm looking forward to your next trip. It's time we got serious about your long range sniper skills if you are okay with that."

"I am, but they are low on my priority list. Close quarters battle, fighting in buildings, is much more likely for me. I've never been in a situation where the shot was longer than fifty feet, even Sunday and Monday. Auggie and I did wish we had an M-four with us when we thought they might be after us, but I can't carry one of those with me. Though I do have a rather unusual permit, if you are interested."

"You have the VA and Utah permits, right?"

"Yes," she reached in her purse and pulled out the laminated Federal permit, "and this one."

"Wow! You are the first _'civilian'_ I've seen with one of these. You can even carry on airplanes and in courtrooms with this one. It allows you to carry any place the Secret Service can carry except the White House."

"I didn't know that, and it's my permit. How do you know that?"

"The orange and green dots in the lower right corner below your signature are on all the Secret Service cards. … The White House detail has two green dots. You can't carry on duty with this when you are in country, right?"

"Right. And it's useless outside the country. But I can certainly pack when I'm off duty. My experience of last weekend will, hopefully, never be repeated, but if it is, I want to be prepared. With this permit I can carry if we ever to visit Auggie's parents in Illinois."

"Annie, you give a whole new meaning to _'prepared_'."

Before she climbed into the Golf, at 8:45 p.m. to head back, she texted Danielle that she and Auggie would meet her at her house in Georgetown with breakfast Friday morning. She'd had Auggie call in a grocery order and be there to put it away so the fridge wouldn't be empty. Then she texted Auggie that she was "wheels turning", started the car, released a huge sigh, and drove off down the half mile long, winding, two rut gravel driveway to the country road.

There was no way she was up to dealing with an overcharged, information-starved Danielle right now. Auggie would understand. He might even have a hot chocolate ready for her and want a little debriefing time.

She arrived at Auggie's apartment with her duffle bag, and gear bag just after 10:00 p.m. to find Auggie waiting up for her with a grilled cheese sandwich and a big mug of tomato soup made with whole milk. She rewarded him with a hug and a kiss and then sat right down to eat.

It was perfect.

Auggie apparently sensed she needed some space, because he left her alone and listened to his iPod while she finished the light dinner and then put the dishes in the dishwasher. Unwound enough to talk, she walked over, touched his hands, and they merged into a gentle hug, followed by a loving but not seductive kiss. She asked, "Wanna talk?"

"Yeah, how did the debrief go?"

"I took him through Sunday morning including the video from the restaurant. He watched it three times."

"What did he say?"

"He sat processing for a while, like maybe a whole minute while I almost wore my skin out from the inside." She felt herself smiling and then said, "When he was done, he looked right at me and said, 'Annie, I can't think of a single thing you could have done better.' I almost dropped my teeth. He went on to compliment me on my head movements to reset the amygdala out of tunnel vision mode, how I reloaded, my SA to pick up on the attack to begin with … he liked it all."

Auggie, always alert, said, "He called you Annie, not Ms Walker?"

"Yes, the whole time I was there. He never called me Ms Walker once. What does that mean?"

"You're in. As far as he's concerned you've graduated. Everything you do there from now on will be post graduate. So to speak. In his eyes, you are one of the best on the planet." Auggie turned to her, and added, "You are the best I've ever known, and I've known some really good ones. I worry about you. I can't help that I do. I love you, but I know you are as good as it gets. If anybody has a chance, you do. But you take some awful risks."

Annie stepped back into his arms and added, "Thank you. You are right; Frank offered to shake my hand and told me he was incredibly proud of how well I had performed both times. He detailed what he liked and then he said that as far as he was concerned, everything we do from now on is, so to speak, post doctoral." Annie couldn't help but grin as she looked at Auggie, and said with triumph in her voice, "He said I have my PhD!"

Auggie grinned proudly, "Wow, Annie. I never earned that from him. You've done what I have thought was impossible. That is a huge compliment from one of the toughest critics on the planet. He say anything else?"

Annie could see Auggie was incredibly proud of her, so she added, "Yes, he also said he'd have me train with Team six; I was good enough, but they train on things that wouldn't be all that useful to me, and he's not allowed to reveal my Covert Officer status to anyone. He was pretty sure those guys would figure it out in about thirty seconds flat."

"They definitely would. You are a tiny little thing that can shoot the eyes out of a striking snake; you don't have a badge. You aren't in the Special Operations command, or they would already know you. That pretty much only leaves one option."

Auggie paused, and then asked, "So what did you do?"

"Spent Wednesday in the shoot house where we made run after run with obstacles in the way. He taped every run so we could critique it together; then I'd run the same course again. While I reviewed my tape, he'd reconfigure the house for the next run after I got my breath. 'Bout wore me out he did."

"I wish I could see those tapes."

"He might send them to Joan and I could narrate them for you. We did twilight into dark exercises at, and after, sunset. Worked with and without lights, with and without the suppressor, snap shots, head shots, groups, and individuals. Triaging threats, first to shoot, and so forth. Also did some low light threat perception exercises."

"With distractions?"

"Yeah, audible and visual. Flashing lights, strobes, red lights, alarms going off, tapes of voices yelling threats and curses in a bunch of languages. The voices were hard because listening to those tended to slow me down at first. He said that was the point. By the time we were done, I had it pretty well figured out and my times with the voices were within a second of my times without the voices. It was exhausting, but it was really good training. He's never stuck it to me that hard before. But I got it done."

"You have to stretch to grow."

What gun were you using with the suppressor?"

"One of his Glock 19s. It's identical to mine, Wolf barrel and all."

"Trijicon tritium suppressor night sights?'

"Yeah. Just like I have on my 19 with the threaded barrel. Oh, and I bought a new gun."

"What gun?"

"Uh, I'll show you. It's what is supposed to be a pocket size 45. Springfield XDs. I call it 'Pocket Thunder'."

"A pocket size .45? Shooting that has to be like high fiving a hammer. Can you hit anything with it?"

"Yes. No. Definitely."

"Huh?"

"Yes, in theory it's a pocket size .45, but not pocket size for me unless I'm wearing really baggy pants. Here it is." She checked it was unloaded, locked the slide back and handed it to him, then continued, "It is actually not bad at all to shoot. Doesn't sting my hand like the PF-9, LC-9 or the Glock 36 do. I put 200 rounds through it bare handed with no problem. And yes, I can hit whatever I shoot at with it as well as I can with the Glock 26, but the trigger discipline is quite different."

"Different how?"

"The nine mil Glocks are double tap guns with lots of ammo capacity. This piece is a one aimed shot at a time sort of gun. I can take the first shot just as fast and accurately as I'd do a double tap with the 26, but I wait between shots for the sights to resettle before taking the second shot. The shots with the XDs are spaced like the double taps with the 26 or 19. Making sense?"

"Yeah, actually, it does. How many rounds does it hold?"

"Five plus one."

"So you are saying it's sort of like a twelve round Glock because of the bigger, higher energy bullet?"

"Sort of, well, not really, but yeah."

Auggie paused to process that for a few seconds then said, "I think I agree with that. First shot placement, actually shot placement period, is more important than caliber. If you hit them in the right place, they will stop or at least become considerably less efficient. Do you think you could have taken down the two in the restaurant with it?"

"After shooting it at the running head targets, yes. But I'd have taken two fewer shots. Aware I had six rounds in the gun, I'd have taken one torso, and one head shot at the first guy. If the first head shot missed, I'd have taken another. That would have left me with three rounds to spend on the head of the second guy. That's only one less at each than I took with the Glock. I'd have had a seven round magazine for my reload. I got the gun with eight magazines, four of each size. Now that we are talking about it, I'll probably carry two spare seven round magazines when I carry this thing. That would give me a total of twenty rounds. When I have the 26 I have twenty-one rounds, but with only one reload to use them all. With the XDs it would require two reloads."

"It must be a new design. I'd not heard of it until now. Are you sure it's reliable enough for prime time?"

"Frank thinks so. He wouldn't say it was if he had even the slightest hint of a doubt. He did say that he quizzed Springfield hard about it and learned that he could ignore the safety recall they are about to issue. The one he sold me had the fix applied to it before they sent it to him. Between that and the magazine spring modification he did himself, it's been failure free for 500 rounds before I put 200 or so failure free rounds of 230 grain +P Speer Gold Dot through it to try it out."

Auggie ran his little finger into the chamber to verify it was unloaded, checked the grip to be sure there was no magazine in it, found the slide release and then tried the trigger, dry firing it a few times, partially racking the slide between. Then he locked the slide open, handed it back and said, "It feels thinner and easier to conceal. That's an advantage. The grip feels longer than the Glock 26 but less than 6 rounds isn't an option. The trigger isn't quite as good as the Glock's but it doesn't miss by much. It's much better than the long weird pull on a Kahr, LC9, or that LCP of yours. You should get yourself a good 1911 someday, a steel framed custom Wilson with officer's model grip and commander length barrel. But I'm rambling. Back to this puppy, Six rounds of .45 trumps six or seven rounds of 380 so it's a heck of a lot better than your P-238 and LCP if you can hide it. I'm good with you packing it if you can't carry the 19 or 26. Might become your summer carry?"

"That's the plan. Auggie, can we go to bed now? Talking about this is winding me back up, and I really need to unwind. My body feels like it's been in a train wreck."

"I have some thoughts on unwinding you. Us."

"I might like that."

**6:00 a.m. Friday, Day 5: Auggie's Apartment. **

Annie woke up Friday morning feeling mentally refreshed and content. She physically felt the effects of the grueling two-day training session at Franks, but waking up next to Auggie after getting a full night's sleep somehow made it all better. She opened her eyes but didn't move. She found they were all tangled up but, at least, covered with a sheet.

Last evening, they'd shared a bottle of wine and had enjoyed Auggie's most recent 'better idea' for unwinding her. His idea had worked perfectly for both of them.

The necessity to use the bathroom sooner rather than later had Annie subtly work her way out of Auggie's gentle embrace without disturbing him. She tiptoed to the bathroom so as not to wake him. A memory of when he 'looked' at her with his fingertips sent a warm shiver through her body. Enough of that!

After relieving herself, she brushed her teeth and was delighted to look up and find Auggie behind her. With his fingertips, he found her shoulder then wrapped his arms about her bare waist, "Arrr…. She's naked." He mumbled with approval in his tone.

Annie chortled as a buzz began in her lower tummy in response to his touch. Her teeth clean she turned, gave him a quick kiss, and said, "I'm going to do the naked barista routine and make some coffee with that new Keurig machine. You want some?"

"Of both."

"Both of what?"

"Columbian and the barista, not necessarily in that order."

"Deal! Coffee first."

After the coffee was made, Auggie got his wish. He started taking his morning 'look' at her that got all out of control and turned into something else entirely. Still half stunned with delight, they were struggling from beneath the tangled bedding when Annie said, "We, as in you and I, need to stop this, pick up breakfast for all of us and go visit Danielle."

"You need reinforcements?"

"Not need, but I really would like you there with me. She arrived last night, so I'd suggest we get dressed and head over there before she comes looking for us."

"Okay, we're a team."

"We certainly are."

**8:00 to 9:00 a.m. Friday, Day 5: Danielle's House.**

They arrived at Danielle's with breakfast in hand a short time later. The big sister dressing down started as soon as Annie's foot was in the door.

In a voice so high and fast Annie wondered if even dogs could hear it, Danielle started, "You were back in one piece and didn't even think to call me. I've been worried sick! Why didn't you call? I wanna hug." She clutched Annie in a firm sisterly hug which Annie gave right back because it felt really good.

Annie enjoyed the closeness of her sister while she waited for Danielle to go through her routine. She would eventually wind down. Annie simply had to wait it out. As expected, she finally eased the hug, gave Annie a kiss on the forehead, pushed back and looked her over like she always did to see if she was really okay. Sometimes she had a lot of stapler injuries. She remembered how Danielle used to keep bags of frozen peas in the freezer just for her. Bags she had used way more often than she liked to admit.

Danielle stepped over to Auggie to give him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. She said, "I'm so glad you are okay, too." He returned the hug, but Annie could see Auggie, who was not a hugging type of person, was relieved when it was over.

Then Daniele got a stern look on her face and asked, "Okay, out with it. What happened in Carlisle wasn't a spy mission. It was in the paper. You were in the paper. Well, the fuzzy back of your head was in the paper unless you have twin I've never met. You were on vacation, at a car show for goodness sakes, eating breakfast in the restaurant where this happened. I can already tell you were both smack dab right in the middle of it." Danielle was sounding like an older sister, and she continued to do so "Dammit, Annie! You tell me about this. You can. I know you can. This isn't classified, so out with it."

"Dani, I'll tell you everything, but I can't do it here. I will take you to Langley and tell you there.

"Annie!"

"It has to wait, Danielle."

"But"

"No buts. This isn't a negotiation. Either you wait, or you hear nothing."

Danielle's expression told Annie she accepted her younger sister's request to wait until they arrived at Langley. She raised her hands in defeat and said to Annie, "Okay, I'll wait, but this better be good."

"You have no idea. We brought breakfast. How are my nieces?"

**10:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon, Friday, Day 5: Civilian Conference Room, Langley.**

Breakfast had been filled with fun catch-up conversation. The drive to Langley, possibly because of their destination, was really quiet. It took about 15 minutes to get Danielle through security at the special civilian entrance gate even though they knew she was coming, had her picture ID and probably enough information to give her a Top Secret Clearance. Once they were parked in the visitor lot, Annie turned to her and said," Dani, you stay with me. Do not wander off down a hall. Do not go anywhere you where can't see me. I'll take you to the briefing room. We'll meet my boss, Joan, there."

Everyone got out the car and Annie led the way into the building. Auggie gripped her arm lightly but firmly; he almost never used this entrance.

Once they were inside the building, Danielle said, "Joan will be there? While I'm briefed? She's a cold hearted woman."

"Actually, she isn't. Protecting classified information is a really tough job. She can't take a chance on anything leaking out, even when a Covert Officer gets shot, like I did. She had to keep you at arm's length. Joan is the reason you are permitted to be here and to see what you'll see. I couldn't clear it. She didn't have to, but she did."

There was a brief pause as Annie led them into the conference room, and then Danielle continued, "Why did Joan do that?"

"Danielle, I'll answer that." They both turned to see Joan walk into the briefing room carrying a laptop and a DVD case. Joan walked up to Danielle and offered her hand. Danielle took it after a short hesitation. "I authorized this briefing," Joan explained, "because your sister told me – and I believe her – that you and Auggie are the two people who keep her sane when the world comes apart around her. It does that more often than I like. So, when Annie said she needed to regain her credibility with you and wanted this room to do it in, I had to agree."

Danielle took a few seconds to react and managed to squeak out, "Oh."

Annie stepped in to rescue her sister and said, "Dani, how about you sit in that chair because we are going to have some images projected on that big screen. Auggie will sit by you."

"I've asked Joan to be here for at least part of the briefing. So we might as well start with that. It has to do with my getting shot in your kitchen, and why the threat is over so you don't have to worry about it."

"Annie, Joan, I don't know how you can convince me the threat is over unless-"

"She's dead," Annie interjected.

"She's dead? The person that shot you was a female?"

"Yes. She was a traitor to the United States, and the CIA. I was, unknown to myself, about to expose her, so she shot my then boyfriend and me. He died."

"Who was your boyfriend? I didn't know about a boyfriend."

"I can't tell you that. But I wanted you to know that, when I recovered, I realized this woman was a huge security risk. I hunted her down and killed her. It took me a while."

"You killed her."

"Yes."

"How?"

"I put two bullets in her evil heart."

"You recovered."

"She didn't."

"How do you know that?"

"She had no pulse."

"Can you tell me when and where this happened?"

Joan broke in and said, "Danielle, she can't tell you anything more than what she's already told you. The rest of it is all classified top secret. As is your sister's part in the story. You can't tell anyone. If you do, we'll deny we ever said it. But Annie wanted you to know the person that violated your house and shot your sister was dead. I agreed with her. And now you know that."

"Auggie, this is all true?"

"Yes, Danielle. It is all true."

Danielle looked at a spot on the wall beyond Annie for several seconds. Annie held her breath, because Danielle was making a decision that she would stick with. Annie felt tremendous relief when Danielle stood, pulled Annie to her, gave her a hug, and said, "I'm so sorry you had to do that. Are you okay? Do you have nightmares about it?"

"I used to but not very often anymore. Auggie helps me more than even he knows."

Joan said, "Danielle, we need to get on to what happened last weekend. I'm going to run out of time."

Danielle sat back down. Annie walked up front to take her place by the screen. Joan put up the first slide, and Annie began her talk.

With no other way out, Annie decided to tell the truth, in detail, this one time. "Dani, do you remember Uncle Fred and Aunt Barb from Moscow?"

"Of course, why?"

"They're fine. Uncle Fred was at the restaurant, too. So were a bunch of retired colonels and active officers who are still teaching at the War College in Carlisle."

"Annie, just tell me what happened in that restaurant before I scream."

"Okay, but as soon as I do you are going to want all the background anyway-"

"Annie!"

Annie took Danielle through the story. Danielle's viewing of the video was emotional for her but she asked to watch it a second time in which it wasn't as overwhelming. To Annie's great relief the story ended with a hug and acceptance by her sister.

Annie followed that with the story of the take down on Monday. That was a lot less traumatic for her sister. She finally got to the video of the chase.

Annie thought her sister might be interested in the video and said, "Do you want to see a video that simulates the chase I told you about?"

"Does this have anymore killing in it?"

No, it's just a video of the road we were on speeded up to sync with the computer that was tracking Auggie and me. It's matched to a recording of our voices during the chase."

"Like when we were in those rallies in Europe?"

"Yeah. Just like that."

"Sure, that would be fun."

Annie showed her, and to Joan and Auggie's surprise, Danielle had no trouble at all with Annie being able to drive like that. Auggie said, "Danielle, you don't seem surprised."

Danielle laughed aloud. "Oh no. I used to navigate for her in performance rallies all over Europe. I could never drive like she could, but I wet my pants once in the Alps when she had one wheel right on the edge of a cliff at hundred and forty kilometers per hour and wouldn't lift. The woman is completely fricken fearless behind the wheel. No, that doesn't surprise me at all. She was offered a job as a professional rally driver for Volvo, but Mom and Dad had a fit and told her she was going to college."

Auggie said, "I learn something new about you every day, Annie."

Joan was watching Danielle and realized something was bothering her. "Danielle, something seems to be bothering you. What is it?"

Danielle looked at Annie with a pensive expression and finally asked, "Are they going to come after you here? Now?"

"No. It's pretty clear we got them all. The FBI is all over this to dot the i's and cross the t's just to be sure. Auggie and I gave them the terrorist geek's laptop we recovered from the van. They are busy analyzing it as we speak. It's in the FBI's hands now. It's our job to find suspicious folks. It's the FBI's job to investigate, make a case, get a warrant, and arrest them. And they are pretty good at that. "

"They didn't find the two that came after you and Auggie last Monday."

"Actually, they called me on my cell phone just as we left Carlisle and warned us that they were on the loose. Auggie and I had time to prepare for them. We didn't take any chances and thought out a plan to deal with the situation if they found us. When I saw them in the mirror, we had a plan and essentially sprung a trap on them."

"You didn't mention that part."

"I'm trying. The only thing classified about this whole deal is the fact that it was me, my name, address, and description that shot them. If my name and face became known, it would end my career as a field officer. You can know because you already know Auggie and I are Covert Officers for the CIA. But you can't tell anyone about either of us, ever. It could get me killed. It could get Auggie killed. I want you to understand. We are trusting you with our lives Danielle."

"I know. I feel the weight of knowing. I worry about the safety of my kids." When Annie started to react to that Danielle quickly added, "Crazy as it sounds, especially to me, after hearing about your experience in the restaurant, I feel much better about you and your gun than I did before. I am crazy proud of what you did, and you couldn't have done it without the gun."

"True."

Danielle looked at Joan and then back at Annie and Auggie. "So," she said, "you two would be the biggest heroes that town has seen in like a hundred years or more – maybe ever. Every person there with a cell phone or camera must have wanted your pictures, but you managed to stay anonymous. Only that one blurry picture got out. How?"

"The two DHS guys and the two FBI agents that were on TV, they were why. Pretty much their whole reason for being there was to keep our identity a secret. We owe them big time for making that happen. The Carlisle PD and the Pennsylvania State Police were a big help too."

Joan glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "I've got to go. Danielle, I'm glad we met under happier circumstances this time. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

"Thank you for the opportunity to understand my sister better. I really appreciate that. I won't ever tell anybody, but for me personally, it's reassuring to know her capabilities. . I ...," Annie could see Danielle realized she was running on, and then she stopped and finished, "Just, thank you again."

The rest of the weekend went by quickly. They didn't talk again about the events of last weekend by agreement. Annie got caught up with her nieces on FaceTime, and they said goodbye to Danielle Sunday morning at the airport.

07/17/2013


	5. Chapter 5

The Third Man / FW

13 **Disclaimer:** I own none of the characters or stories related to the show Covert Affairs. They are the property of Coreman, Ord, the producers of Covert Affairs, et. al. I just like to play with them.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Burk Makes the Call**

**7:30 a.m. Monday, Day 8: Special Agent Burk's office in Philadelphia. **

Special Agent Megan Burk entered her office a half hour early, took another sip of her coffee, and set the mug on her desk. She removed her jacket, removed her Glock from its holster and put it in the desk drawer, stretched, yawned, sat down, touched the shift key and woke up her computer for her usual morning e-mail triage session. She gave the list of incoming unread e-mail a quick scan and clicked first on one from SSA Rossabi that had as its subject, "Findings from terrorist computer captured by CIA."

Burk opened the e-mail that said only, "See attached report." So she double clicked on the attached PDF file to open the report, dated the previous Thursday, and started reading. She read with growing incredulity. She felt the heat of anger build until she finished the report. It was ten pages of chilling information. After going back through it a second time, she picked up her phone and dialed Rossabi's number which was included on his e-mail signature.

"Supervisory Special Agent Rossabi," he answered.

"Good morning SSA Rossabi, this is Special Agent Megan Burk. I just read the report, twice. How long have you known about this?"

"Don't get upset. We've known since about Thursday, but we wanted to confirm it before we sent out a report."

"You've known since Thursday there was a third man at the restaurant. You've known that he left undetected either during or after the attack and that he reported to a terrorist cell in Philly run by a naturalized American Citizen named Nassir?"

"Yes. Nassir is apparently the leader and primary funder of the cell's activities. We still don't know exactly what they have planned-"

"They are right here in Philly where I am. I need the data to populate arrest warrants-"

"Don't do that. We don't think they are planning anything that will happen immediately. We haven't broken the code on all the files on the computer yet, but we should soon. They are having trouble getting material based on other data on the drive. We really want to know their connections to Al-Qaida or the Taliban so we can trace back to those sponsoring them overseas and bring them all down at once."

"Do Walker and Campbell know about this?"

"No. It's not their case. They may have brought it to our attention, but it's domestic, and that's the province of DHS and the FBI."

"Isn't DHS supposed to coordinate between all of us? Including CIA?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I read the act that created DHS. It clearly says they were created to coordinate all our efforts so nothing falls in the crack like nine eleven."

"Hold that thought."

"Rossabi, Walker and Anderson are known to the cell. They could be in grave danger, and they aren't being told, warned to get off the street. Why?"

"A special team is being set up to bring down the cell. SSA Ross will head it up. He's viewed with favor by the powers-that-be here, his star is rising, and this is exactly the sort of case that makes careers. He's asked for the chance to lead it, and he has the job as of noon yesterday."

"What has that got to do with leaving Walker and Anderson exposed? Noon yesterday? We, the FBI, have wasted most of four days doing nothing. With all due respect, SSA Ross has no anti-terrorist experience at all. His whole career is built on white-collar crime. Why is he leading something like this? It's a prescription for disaster. These people are committed, proven capable of attempting extreme violence, and they've managed to build what appears to be a significant cell right under our noses."

"That's true, but Nassir is a business man, so this is viewed as being a good fit for Ross's skills."

"So, the reason I haven't heard about this, and Walker and Anderson are in harm's way, is because Ross wanted to keep it all a secret until he'd finished his political wrangling?"

"Uh ... it's how the game is played. You know that."

"Putting people's lives at risk for purposes of career enhancement isn't my idea of how the game is supposed to be played. It's exactly the sort of thing we aren't supposed to be doing now. You do realize that Walker and Anderson could be in grave danger? Right? It isn't fricken rocket science. We know they were tracked down just a week ago in farm country south of Carlisle, and now you are telling me there is a cell that probably knows exactly who they are, and where they live, because they have Auggie's license plate and registration, and you haven't warned them?"

"Campbell is on distribution for the report."

"That's your answer? That leaves your conscience clear? It's four days late. I've got to call her, but first, I want to know if you have you learned anything since last Thursday that's not in this report?"

"No."

"Okay, I gotta go." Burk hung up, closed her eyes, and tried to bring her anger at both the political asshole she worked for, one Supervisory Special Agent Ross, and, the quintessential bureaucratic jerk, SSAIC Rossabi, under control. But, as she reviewed the report data in her head, it did nothing to calm her.

_They have clear evidence of communications from a third man on the scene of the restaurant attack. They know the attack was planed and funded by this cell in Philly lead by a naturalized American Citizen named Nassir. They have found plans for explosive vests, communications ordering them to recruit at least four suicide bombers and plans for a truck bomb as big as or bigger than the one that took down the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. There is general mention of a terrorist strike that is to take place but no clue as to when. But, even more scary, they found a plan for a huge fuel air bomb but no hint of where it might be used. And they've been sitting on this since Thursday while they worked out the fucking interoffice politics! She shook her head. Some people just didn't get it. Never would get it. _

_Calm down Megan, _she told herself. _You need to take a few minutes and think this through. Presumably, since you are the senior agent in the office, you will have a part in Ross's task force. Jo's another logical member. She's been involved since she was at the site of the take down south of Carlisle a week ago. She knows at least two of the players, Walker and Anderson. I know them, Campbell and Agent Rossabi. In addition, I have Joan Campbell's phone number. Larson is another logical member, but he's out of town at the moment. I need to get Jo in here and bounce some ideas off her. I don't dare talk to anybody else, and I need a plan before Ross gets his task force organized. He'll hip shoot; he can't do anything else. I need help here. What I need is Anderson, Walker, Campbell, and Bell. How can I do that?_

_I wonder if Jo's in yet? She's the only other person here that has any data or with whom I can discuss Walker and Anderson. _

With that thought, Megan picked up her phone again and dialed Jo's extension.

"Good morning, Agent Burk."

"Jo, would you please come to my office immediately?"

"Sure, what's it about? Do I need to bring any files?"

"No, just yourself - and bring your coffee 'cause you'll be a while."

"On my way," Jo replied and hung up.

About three minutes later, Megan heard a light knock on her office doorframe. Meanwhile, she had moved her laptop to the small conference table in her office and called up the report on its screen. Jo stood in the doorway when Megan looked up. "Please come in and shut the door," she said. Jo's eyes went wide in a look of apprehension. "No problem," Megan told her, "but I think everything we are about to discuss is classified, and you'll agree that door needs to be shut."

"Okay. What's going on?"

"Read this, and then I need to add some information. I need someone I can bounce things off and you are the only the person I can do it with."

Jo looked from Burk's face to the computer screen that Burk had turned so she could read it. As she read through the report, Burk saw the same concern on Bell's face that had consumed her. Pursed lips, hard eyes and a short, sharp breath expressed the same anger. Jo pulled the laptop closer so she could manipulate the document. After about five minutes, she closed her eyes and seemed lost in concentration. Burk knew this was how she operated so just waited and was rewarded a few seconds later when Bell looked at her and said, "This is not good news for Walker and Anderson. They could be in mortal danger. I wouldn't be surprised if that cell had a hit man after them already. Plus, we are sitting within a few miles of what may be one of the biggest, most violent terrorist cells on the East Coast, maybe in the country at the moment, and we are doing nothing but office politics. How long have they known this?"

"Since last Thursday."

"Walker and Anderson know this. Right?"

"Rossabi hasn't told them anything. This report was sent to their boss just this morning. I've met her. I'd bet she is reading it as we speak and is just as angry."

"Shouldn't we give them a call and warn them? There is nothing to be gained by keeping them out of the loop."

"There is more you need to know before we start to what-if this?"

"Like what is our charter?"

"In a way, but not exactly. I'm operating without portfolio at the moment. But I think we can do what I have in mind without getting in trouble."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I have more to tell first. This is between you and me, nobody else. Clear?"

"Sure."

Megan relaxed a little when Jo took a drink of her coffee, set it down and leaned back in her chair clearly in input mode. The woman was blessed with the gift of repose.

"Since they learned this information, apparently the weekend was spent in negotiations between Ross and headquarters. The net result is our boss, Supervisory Special Agent In Charge Mark Ross, noted for his successful prosecutions of White Collar Crime, has been put in charge of a task force to take down the cell that's mentioned in that report."

When Jo didn't react beyond a faint frown, Megan continued, "The CIA doesn't know anything about it. And, almost as bad, those of us who were at Carlisle or knew about the take down that captured the computer have been left out of the planning. Ross has no anti-terrorist experience that I know of and, I suspect, no idea what he's dealing with. I need to get out ahead of this. I need a plan."

"How long do we have?"

"I suspect we have until around noon. It will take Ross that long to decide on how big a meeting he needs and who he should invite to hear him announce 'his' big taskforce. At the moment, I suspect he's hard at work maneuvering to get people on the team, under his command, that wouldn't ordinarily be there, and he intends to cut their bosses out of the loop. He's also going to be angling for more budget. A good bureaucrat never misses a chance to get more budget. Budget controlled is a bureaucrat's measure of worth. That's good because it gives us about three hours to get out in front of him and have a plan ready. It also gives us a chance to call the real anti-terrorist experts off the record and see if we can figure out how to get their willing help."

"Walker and Anderson?"

"Walker at least. I don't have much background on Anderson, though my instincts tell me he's at least half of that team, if not more." She could see Jo about to reply, held up a hand and continued; "I also know their boss. We met at the diner where Walker took down those two terrorists a week ago Sunday. I want to call her. Now, her name is just as classified as Walker's and Anderson's, so if I can get permission to tell you her name, you can't tell anyone who she is: her name or whatever you might think you know about what she does."

"Got it."

"Okay. Get out of here, take a walk, get more coffee and think about this. Brainstorm. I have a couple of things I need to do first; they include getting permission to tell you the name of Walker and Anderson's boss. Then we'll meet back here in about half an hour – say at 8:30. Close the door behind you. Oh, and nothing you are working on is ahead of this on the priority list."

Jo said, "Got it. 8:30," stood up, picked up her coffee mug, and left with the door closed behind her as requested.

As soon as the door was closed, Burk picked up her landline phone and called the number Joan had given her when they were at the restaurant in Carlisle.

"Campbell."

"Joan, this is Special Agent Burk with the FBI Philadelphia office, we met at the Middleburg Diner a week ago Sunday."

"I remember you."

"Can you call me back on an encrypted line?"

"Yes. This number?"

"Please." The line went dead; Megan took a breath and hung up the phone.

About two minutes later, when she was just starting to get concerned, the phone gave the ring tone for an incoming encrypted call. Megan picked it up, touched a numeric code on the phone's number pad, and then heard a digital reincarnation of Joan Campbell's voice say, "Special Agent Burk?"

"Yes."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes. I called about the report."

"I thought that might be the case."

"I just got it this morning from Rossabi."

"Same here."

Megan could detect signs of anger and frustration in Joan's tone of voice and decided just to jump right in. "I just got off the phone with Agent Rossabi. Apparently the FBI is setting up a task force to deal with this cell that's located practically in my office." When Joan didn't react Megan continued, "It will be lead by SSA Mark Ross. His background is in White Collar crime. I am jumping to conclusions here, but I've worked for the man for the last three years, and he's not who I'd have picked to lead this effort. That said, my job is to make my boss successful if I can, and I think I'm going to need your help."

"What would you expect us to do? We're officially not operating here. Walker was on vacation when she took down those terrorists. We handed over all the evidence and the prisoner. We did exactly what we were supposed to do. This sounds like it's exclusively the FBI's charter, with maybe some interference from DHS."

"I'd like to have you assign Walker to come here and help, with Anderson to be her handler while she's here, and I'd like your help as well."

"Why Walker? How could it possibly be legal for her to help? In addition, I don't want any more people finding out her covert status. You and Rossabi already know, Special Agents Bell and Larson know. That's already more than I am comfortable with."

"Let me deal with your concerns in order. I want her for two reasons. First, according to the report, most of the cell's business is conducted in languages other than English, but I think she knows most of the languages. If my understanding of her language skills is correct, she not only reads, writes and speaks them, but she can think in them, and most of all, she understands the subtle meanings, the connotations associated with word choice, like a native speaker. But, above all, she has the background and training to deal with terrorists. I suspect Anderson does as well. And aside from my one day learning experience at the Middleburg Diner, none of us here have any. Philly hasn't exactly been a hot bed of terrorist activity. At least until now."

"Assuming I agree she'd be useful, how is it even legal?"

"We had a training session shortly after nine-eleven on how to make use of CIA anti-terrorist expertise before the DHS could get up and running. I think it still applies considering that the DHS is still not up and running near as I can tell."

"What did they tell you?"

"That if we got a federal judge to sign off on the order and the covert officer in question reported to the FBI and was thus effectively an employee of the FBI, they could operate with the same charter as an FBI Agent, at least for the duration of the mission."

"You sure of that?"

"Yes. I questioned it at the time. One of the benefits of being a Yale Law graduate is I have all sorts of connections, and I used them to vet the information."

"Out of curiosity, what's your plan to protect Annie's covert status?"

"We are getting way ahead of what I've been able to think through. I need to think about this for an hour or so and get back to you. But right this moment I need permission to give your name to Agent Jo Bell. Annie met her when she was at the location where she captured the computer that's the basis for this whole conversation."

"Why does she need to know my name? Would you be going to tell Agent Larson as well?"

"Larson is in Chicago at the moment, so Bell is the only one I have here that I can bounce things off. She's coming back in about half-an-hour so we can brainstorm this."

"I have some information in addition to the report. May I make a suggestion?"

"Please do. I am open to all the help I can get."

"Walker needs a new non official cover ID, we call it a NOC, and you probably do too. Her last one, as a Smithsonian employee, is getting a bit threadbare. It's been really good so far, but it's also compromised. Since she's in the Domestic Protection Division, she's usually in the awkward position of having to time-share her work between here and overseas. It would be very useful for her to have a cover ID as a fully credentialed FBI Agent. Her back-story would be as a Language Major specializing in anti-terrorist activities. That she's been in compartmentalized long-term undercover assignments since starting with the FBI. In order to keep her FBI status a secret, she was in a special training class of one and reports only to the Director through SSAIC Rossabi.

"You've been thinking about this for a while?"

"Only a week, but I think the key to it working is a judge's order signed by the director of the CIA, by the Director of the FBI, and by my boss, Arthur Campbell."

"Who else at the FBI would know her identity that doesn't already?"

"Nobody. I'd like Rossabi to be her contact in DC and in general. You, if she's in Philly. Nobody else between you and the director, including Mark Ross, should know who she really is.

"You know Mark?"

"We've never met, and he doesn't know it, but our paths have crossed."

"That goes beyond damming with faint praise."

"You are gifted."

"Can I tell Agent Bell your name?"

"Can you hold for a minute?"

"Yes." Burk heard the phone go on hold and considered what she'd heard. Frankly, she was astonished at Campbell's suggestion. It was better and had the potential to be much more effective than having Walker sequestered in a motel room reading reports and listening to bugs. The problem would be to keep Walker on the straight and narrow, if that was even possible.

The phone crackled back to life, and she heard Joan say, "Yes. You can tell Special Agent Mary Josephine Bell my name and that I'm Walker and Anderson's boss. You may not give her my job title, if you even know it yourself."

"Thanks, and no, I don't know it. You folks aren't big on business cards."

"Or any other marketing devices. I'll call you back at 11:30 your time. Meanwhile, for purposes of your brain storming, think of ways you can use Annie as a fully credentialed FBI agent with some language skills and a history of undercover anti-terrorist operations. You might also think of anybody that could work with us to help construct a bulletproof identity package good for investigation by the FBI itself. Because it will be investigated if we do this. Time will be of the essence."

"Will do. Talk to you at 11:30." The phone went dead.

**8:15 a.m. Monday, Day 8: Joan's Office Langley**

Sitting at her desk in Langley, Joan thought for a few seconds, and then grunted and punched in a number she knew well but seldom called. When Auggie answered she said, "Auggie, put me on speaker so you and Annie can both participate."

"You are on speaker."

"I need you and Annie in here. Come directly to my office, as fast as you can get here. Bring your go-bags. Annie, bring your Frank training gear bag. Throw in at least one of your Glocks and some ammunition but leave it unloaded. I'll clear it with security. On second thought, the two of you go to the chopper pad at the State Police station about a mile from Auggie's apartment. I'll have a chopper there for you in fifteen minutes. ... Auggie, this isn't negotiable. Get dressed and be there with your Go-Bag."

Without waiting for a reply, she ended the call and immediately dialed Stu's number in the Tech Ops office. When he answered, she interrupted his official answer routine to say, "Save it Stu, grab everything you have on that Geek's computer and come to my office immediately. ... No, just you and whatever you have been able to learn from that computer. Now!"

After she hung up, she dialed her administrative assistant and said, "Get a chopper to the State Police pad near where Auggie lives. I want it there in fifteen minutes, twenty at the latest. It is to pickup Anderson, Walker, and bring them straight here – go bags and all. Walker will be armed. She'll have a Glock in her gear-bag. Clear that with security. ... No, nobody else, no stops. Just get them here as fast as you can. Thanks."

She dropped the phone on the cradle and rested her head in her hands for a few seconds to get her wits about her. Then she dialed one of the lawyers that owed her a favor in the General Counsel's office. When he answered she said, "Gary, I need an opinion and I need it RFN. ... I've been told it's legal for a CIA Agent to operate in this country, with a weapon, if they are under the direct command of the FBI as part of a task force? Is that true? ... Okay, good. Please prepare whatever paper it takes to make that legal. ... No, that will not work, I need it almost yesterday, last week would be even better. ... The agent is Annie Walker. The FBI person under whose orders she will operate will be SSAIC Vincent Rossabi, DC office. His second in her chain of command will be Special Agent Megan Burk in Philadelphia. ... When? Starting immediately. I've heard you need a Federal Judge to sign it? ... Make it happen. ... No, Rossabi doesn't know this is happening; let me tell him. ... No, I'll tell Arthur. This is coming on so fast I haven't had time to read him in. ... Thanks. Call me as soon as you have anything." She hung up.

Her next call was to Arthur. When his secretary answered she said, "I need to speak to him immediately. ... I don't care who he's on with, I need him right now." While she waited, she focused on how to present this radical plan. About the time he picked up, she decided to go with head on. "Arthur, I am going to have Annie go to work for the FBI on an anti-terrorist taskforce operation in Philly Philadelphia. ... Yes, it's in response to that report we both received this morning. ... It's the cell that sponsored the terrorists she shot in the restaurant. ... I already talked to Gary in the General Counsel's office – he agrees with Special Agent Burk; it's legal if we get a Federal Judge to sign off on the agreement. ... No, nobody that doesn't already know Annie's status will be read into her true role. ... We'll build a deep background, and I'm thinking it can replace her Smithsonian cover that's pretty much blown. Besides, it allows her to legally carry a gun while she's on the taskforce. ... I don't know, presumably if she's working with full legitimate FBI credentials she has arrest authority. I need to work that out – she has no arrest or custody training at all. ... Yes. I'll bring you up to speed later. Thanks." She hung up having gotten tentative approval from Arthur, but she knew he'd have her back.

Her next call was to FBI Special Agent Vincent Rossabi. When he answered she said, "Special Agent Rossabi, this is Joan Campbell. ... Do you have access to an encrypted phone line? ... Thanks, I'll call back on that number in one minute." She hung up, and then went through the process of placing an encrypted call to the number Rossabi had given her.

When he answered he said, "This is a first, what's so important?"

"The report you sent me this morning. It says Walker and Anderson could be in danger. Have been in danger for several days. I could have them sit in a safe house until this is cleaned up, or I can offer to have Walker and Anderson assigned to the inevitable FBI taskforce when it finally gets off the ground. That will take at least Walker out of town, and I can keep Anderson here, in an internal apartment, until the mess is cleaned up."

Rossabi sounded confused when he replied, "How can Walker be of any help? This is strictly an FBI matter now. Walker's actions that Sunday and Monday unintentionally uncovered a terrorist cell. We want to investigate it in order to trace its sponsors, whereever they are, and then shut it down."

"I'm offering Walker to help with that." When Rossabi said nothing she continued, "For now, she can support Burk in Philadelphia, which is what Burk has requested. Then, if necessary, she can go overseas and be our eyes and ears in any country of interest. You'd have your own pet spy, at least for a little while."

It sounded to Joan like Rossabi almost 'got it' when she heard him say, "How could this even work ... oh, you'd have her assigned to the FBI undercover reporting to ... who?"

She tried to nail it down and said, "The Director through you and Burk. That's it. Nobody else. The Director as primary, you as the #2 because you are in DC and have better access to HQ. Burk when she's in Philadelphia."

"Why the Director?"

"Because her entire background will be redacted to about her date of birth and education for everybody but the Director, you, and Burk. Her history will be continuous undercover anti-terrorist assignments, special training, and so forth, details to be worked out if we agree on the concept."

"I need to talk to some people and get back to you on this. I'd be hanging way out in the breeze on this."

"The deal is you don't tell anybody that doesn't already know that she's what she is."

"A spook."

"Whatever."

"So who can I talk to?"

"Special Agent Burk but definitely not, repeat not, her boss, SSA Ross."

"That could be awkward. Ross is going to be running the task force."

"We need to give her a Ross proof cover ID and a complete set of internal investigation proof FBI credentials. I mean complete: childhood, school, prior assignments, why nobody knows or has heard of her, the whole nine yards. They need to be good enough that even your Office of Professional Responsibility can't break it."

"That's impossible."

"No, it isn't. You folks have compartmentalized personnel just like we do. She'd be one of them. Nobody but you, Burk, and the Director would be able to see her personnel file. Trust me on this; we can give her a history of undercover assignments that will stand up to scrutiny. She'd be billed to the taskforce, and Ross, as an anti-terrorist expert, assigned by the Director. It will appear as if she spent most of her career undercover infiltrating homegrown terrorist organizations. When Ross tries to look her up he'll hit an official wall."

"That's legal. We've done it before, but how the hell can we get it done in time?"

"We have at least a week I'd think. It's been a week already, and Walker doesn't need to do anything but memorize her history after we get it prepared. She's good at that – she has a fantastic memory."

"Yeah, Ross won't be quick about this. He won't want to have a meeting till he's had a chance to turn it into a photo op."

"No pictures of Walker. None. Or this is dead before it starts."

"Agreed."

"You have the address of the warehouse?"

"Yes."

"Do you have enough to get a FISA warrant to bug it?"

"Yes. That's easy. They never turn us down. I don't think they even read the application beyond trying to find where to sign."

"Get one. I'll take care of the rest."

"This is so fast-"

"No it isn't. It's too damn slow. I have people in harm's way because we're behind the eight ball on this. We need to get in front of it, and from what I've been able to learn about Ross, he's clueless. And he's willing to place people in harm's way for personal reasons. I don't trust him at all."

"No comment."

"You have someone that can help us with Walker's cover story?"

"Yes."

"Make arrangements for him to contact Stu Heatherton or Auggie Anderson ASAP so they can get started."

"Okay?"

Joan sensed the question even thought Rossabi intended his reply as an affirmative. "You still uncertain?" When she didn't get an answer, she added, "Look, I know this is fast, and I appreciate the bureaucratic implications of what I'm proposing, but you have an out. If it doesn't work out, blame me."

"Ummm..."

Joan waited for ten seconds and then said, "You in or not. Tell me now or I hang up and do this on my own."

"I'm in."

"Thanks. I gotta go. Lots to do here." And she hung up. _Never stay in a meeting after you have agreement. Never, _she thought.

Right then Stu arrived at her office door, and she waved him in. "Stu, I need a fifteen minute briefing on the highlights of what, if anything, you learned from the Geek's computer."

"I ... uh ... where's Auggie?"

"He's on his way here, hopefully, on a chopper. I need to know what you've learned now, before he gets here." She saw a flash of panic on his face and rescued him from that, "Look, Stu, relax. You've done nothing wrong. In fact, you did the exact right thing working through the weekend on that hard disk. I'm just caught in a tough spot right now. I need to make a plan, and I can't do that without knowing what you learned while you were in here all weekend."

"You know I was in here all weekend?"

"Yes. Please just tell me what you learned. Not how you learned it, I don't have time for that now."

"Okay. I have access to maybe two percent of the data on that hard drive, if you don't count the video files - they uh ... never mind. Um, so far I've learned that the two terrorists Annie shot were originally supposed to have on explosive vests. I don't know why they didn't. I have no idea what schedule they mean, but apparently the shotguns were an afterthought to maintain schedule. Don't know why schedule was that important.

"There are lots of pictures of people in the restaurant parking lot. In a separate folder they had several pictures of just Annie and Auggie in the restaurant parking lot. It looks to me like they figured out that Annie and Auggie were linked to the killing of their terrorists. I don't know how they did that unless they saw Annie in action. Anyway, in one of the pictures Annie and Auggie are talking to an older gentleman with silver hair. I don't know who he is or if he's significant."

When Joan said nothing he continued, "I've also figured out how they located Annie and Auggie south of Carlisle. There are about four gigabytes of Carlisle traffic camera data on that computer. I am not sure how they got it, but I've verified it's from that Monday morning. There is also some video camera data of the restaurant parking lot that has been edited to focus on Auggie's Corvette. In fact, Auggie's Corvette is in most of the traffic camera data. That's how they located them and tracked them to route 34 South out of Carlisle, but I've no idea how they obtained that data off the servers."

"Do you think you will be able to figure out how they got the traffic camera data?"

"There is a remote chance, but it will take a while, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort. It would be better if you convinced the FBI to just ask the Geek himself."

"Noted. What else do you know?"

"I have the address of the warehouse where they are storing material and where they will be making bombs and holding meetings. I can also tell you it has some underground additions that are apparently where they do most of their work. I can also tell you the headman is Amir Nassir. He's on no social sites. I Googled him and learned he's a wealthy naturalized American citizen who has made millions in import/export over the last thirty years. I have a bunch of information about his warehouse and what's going on around it."

"That's great. When Annie and Auggie get here, I want you to come to my office and use your iPad to put your data on that monitor so we can have a meeting to brainstorm the new mission. I especially need to know everything that's going on around that warehouse. Google Earth photos, if they are current, would help. Oh, and I'd like pictures of the subject warehouse and all the freight yards that adjoin it, and whatever you can learn about what's going on at them. Get Barber on board. But nobody else."

"Uh ... yeah, of course. I mean, I'll be here."

"Relax Stu. Ya done good!" Stu loosened up enough to smile, and then he almost sprinted out of her office back to the tech center.

Joan made a note to get a protection detail assigned to the Abbots. _More innocent people in harms way because of the FBI politics. No way Ross learns Annie's covert status._

Time had apparently flown by while she was lost in thought because it seemed like one second later that Annie and Auggie knocked on the doorframe and then continued into her office.

07/17/2013

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**AN:** Please leave a review to let me know how you like the story and any suggestions for what could have been done to make the story more appealing.

Thanks

Fitch


	6. Chapter 6: Panic and Planning

The Third Man - FRW

13

**AN:** Many thanks to Patricia Louise, Gwynne, and AleciaB for their input and acting as a sounding board.

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**Chapter 6: Panic and Planning**

_Previously:_

_Stu said, "I have the address of the warehouse where they are storing material and where they will be making bombs and holding meetings. I can also tell you it has some underground additions that are apparently where they do most of their work. I can also tell you the headman is Amir Nassir. I Googled him and learned he's a wealthy, naturalized American Citizen who has made millions in import/export over the last 30 years. I have a bunch of information about his warehouse and what's going on around it."_

_Joan replied, "That's great. When Annie and Auggie get here, I want you to come to my office and use your iPad to put your data on that monitor so we can have a meeting to brainstorm the new mission. I especially need to know everything that's going on around that warehouse. Google Earth photos if they are current would help. Oh, and I'd like pictures of the subject warehouse and all the freight yards that adjoin it and whatever you can learn about what's going on at them. Get Barber on board. But nobody else."_

_"Uh ... yeah, of course. I mean, I'll be here."_

_"Relax Stu. Ya done good!" Stu loosened up enough to smile, and then he almost sprinted out of her office back to the tech center._

_Time had apparently flown by while she was lost in thought because it seemed like one second later that Annie and Auggie knocked on the doorframe and then came on into her office._

**10:00 a.m. Monday, Day 8: Joan Campbell's office, Langley.**

"Good morning. Please sit down; I have a lot to catch you up on and not very long to do it." She watched while Annie dropped what was a conventional soft travel bag and what looked, and sounded, like a considerably heavier black canvass bag. She suspected the latter was Annie's shooting gear bag but checked to be sure, "First, Annie, did you bring your little Glock?"

"Good morning to you, too. I brought my gear bag. It has both my 19 and my 26, along with the holsters. That's everything I usually use at Frank's. I didn't bring any of the little guns – the three-eighty or the .45. No suppressor either – I don't think God could keep me out of jail if they caught me with a suppressor in DC. I have all my permits and 200 rounds of nine-millimeter ammo - 50 +P DPX for the 26, the rest is 158 grain subsonic for the 19. My tactical vest is in my gear bag."

"Subsonic ammo but no suppressor?"

"Yeah, it's what I practice with. My 19 has a threaded Wolf barrel with conventional rifling so it shoots lead just fine. The 158g lead hollow points will get the job done. They don't make a sonic crack, which helps, especially indoors."

"I saw the videos from your last session at Frank's. I hope you don't need all that stuff, but I'm really glad you have it." Joan paused for a second, and then started to bring them up to date, "I got a report from Rossabi this morning updating me on what they've learned from the Geek's hard drive. Short version, they haven't learned very much, but what they've learned is disturbing. The report says there was a third man at the diner. We have no ID on him, but they have confirmed from the Geek's hard drive that he exists. He reports to a man named Amir Nassir who heads the terrorist cell that sponsored the raid on the diner.

"Second, Amir Nassir is a naturalized American citizen who's made his fortune over the last 30 years in the import export business. He runs his business out of a warehouse along the riverfront in Philadelphia.

"Third, the FBI is setting up a task force to be headed by the Supervisory Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia FBI office. An agent named Mark Ross."

"How long have they known this?" asked Annie.

"Since last Thursday, but please don't ask any more questions till I get through my data dump. There is a lot more you need to know before you even think about asking questions." She paused and saw nods from both Annie and Auggie. Auggie leaned back and cocked one long leg over the other. Annie scooted a little closer so that their shoulders just touched when she relaxed. Joan continued, "Stu worked through the weekend on your behalf and learned more than the FBI. He says he's cracked about 2% of the data on the Geek's hard disk if he doesn't count video files. Stu was in here this morning and gave me a data dump.

"Based on what he's found on the Geek's computer, the terrorists you shot at the diner were supposed to be wearing explosive vests. They were recruited to be suicide bombers. Stu doesn't know why they didn't have vests. The indications from the data on the drive are that the shotguns were a backup plan because they wanted to maintain some sort of schedule. What schedule or why that was important is unknown.

"Stu found the warehouse address where they are active. He said it has underground additions that are where he thinks, based on what he learned, they intend to make bombs and do their planning. He has a floor plan of the underground part, but he doesn't think it's complete. Part of it is shown as dotted lines. He's not sure what that means."

She saw Annie draw a breath as if to speak and cut her off, "Not yet, Annie. There is more." She saw Annie nod and continued, "I've talked to both Burk and Rossabi, in that order. Burk called me. I called Rossabi. Agent Burk wants you, Annie, to be on the FBI task force that's being set up to bring down this cell in Philadelphia." She saw Annie change position and said, "Hear me out, Annie. Burk asked for your help because you speak all the languages they've associated with the cell. You have more anti-terrorist experience than all of them combined. The leader of the task force, Ross, is a white collar crime specialist. He's used to dealing with sophisticated financial fraud schemes and workman's comp cases. You, and Auggie, have had a lot of anti-terrorist experience."

Annie interrupted in what Joan knew to be an irritated tone, "Joan, I don't want anything to do with this. It's all domestic; it's the FBI's job. It's what they do if they do anything. They need eyes and ears overseas, I'm there, but this thing is in a warehouse in Philadelphia. Why don't they just go in there, throw them all in jail, and let the lawyers sort it out? This isn't that complicated."

"That's exactly what I told Burk, but she says they want the benefit of your experience. Burke's tone was near panic when we talked. None of her people have ever thought about drawing a gun, much less fired a shot in anger. They have no concept of how ruthless and brutal these terrorists can be."

"So call the famous, or notorious, depending on how you view Waco and Ruby Ridge, FBI Hostage Rescue Team. Surround the place; kill 'em all, and let God sort them out. I still haven't heard why they need me – why the CIA should risk its investment, put my covert status at risk, for this operation run by a clown. They've already let Auggie and I dangle in harm's way for three or four days and didn't warn us. Tell Rossabi to shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

"I understand you're pissed. I am too. But we can take that up with them later. Right now isn't the moment to indulge our anger. It isn't Rossabi that's asking. It's Burk, and she's so upset with Rossabi and her boss she can hardly say their names without spitting. Okay?"

"No promises, but if it's her asking, I'll at least listen."

"They want to follow the strings back to the ideological sponsors overseas: look for ties to Al-Qaeda or other similar organizations. The tentative agreement I have with Rossabi, and probably soon with Burk, subject to your concurrence, is that nobody, with two defined exceptions, will know you aren't a real FBI Agent. The plan would be to give you a cover ID as an FBI Special Agent whose primary focus is anti-terrorism. You will have been in long-term, undercover assignments, trained off the grid, and kept basically on what one might call the black side of the FBI. Your personnel file will be redacted to nothing but your name, rank, and clearance level. Only Burke, Rossabi, Jo Bell, and the Director of the FBI will know who you really are. The Director has to know because he has to approve it."

"Maybe. What's the rest of it?"

"The Director is one of the two that have to be added to the list of folks that know your real story. The other is the FBI/CIA Liaison that will be assigned by Rossabi to work with Auggie and Stu to build an air tight back story for you."

"That's a lot of work for an assignment that shouldn't last more than eight hours if they do it right."

Auggie stirred, put his foot down, and sat up straight. "I agree, Joan. This is asking a lot for very little return as far as I can see."

"It will last longer than that. Trust me on this. The bureaucrats won't have anything to gain by being efficient. They need a career enhancing story to tell when it's over." Joan could see Annie was angry: red flushed face, pursed lips, and hands that trembled.

That was confirmed when Annie said, "You want me to help them build a career enhancing story after they failed to warn us? Hell no. Who are you, and what have you done with Joan?"

"I, Joan, think your Smithsonian NOC is blown to smithereens. You know they threw it in your face when you were in the Russian prison. If they know, everybody knows. I may want you to have more than one NOC, but a bullet proof NOC as an FBI Special Agent, with credentials that will withstand even searches by fellow FBI Agents, has all sorts of benefits for one such as yourself. It can get you in a lot of doors and cover a lot of activities that representing a museum can't."

"OooooK. So I'd get a fourth concealed carry permit called an FBI badge?"

"Exactly. Plus, you could legally claim to be an FBI Special Agent without being subject to prosecution for impersonating a federal officer. I think that might be huge since we are the DPD with no real legal charter to implement the _Domestic_ part. You would be legal as an FBI Agent as long as you reported to one of them."

"May I be in the conversations with Burk and Rossabi while you set this up?"

"You can be here, but I want you to breathe through your nose. Got it?"

"Yup."

Joan turned in his direction and said, "Auggie, go get with Stu and Barber and get a cover ID set up for Annie."

"How long do we have?"

"I think you can count on three days - plan to be done then. We might get as many as ten. If we do, just use it to cross check and improve the pedigree of what you have."

"I can do that."

"Okay, Auggie, go get started. I'll feed you any additional data as it becomes available."

Auggie nodded, stood, gave Annie's hand a squeeze, and unfolded his cane. He stopped when Joan said, "Auggie, you need to stay in a safe house till this is over. We'll hire a car and have a protection team with you to and from Langley."

She paused, and then added in response to his expression, "Yeah ... Sit back down; there is one more thing I forgot to tell you. Stu figured out how they tracked you down south of Carlisle – they had video surveillance of the restaurant parking lot. They spotted your Corvette there, hacked into traffic camera data, and used that to track you out of town in real time Monday morning. They've had your license plate data since a week ago Sunday. There is a good chance they have the address of your apartment since it's probably on the registration."

"It is."

"Don't go back there. I'll send someone to your apartment to get what you're likely to need. It will be waiting for you at the safe house. Annie, you will stay at the safe house until you go to Philadelphia under cover as an FBI agent. Okay, Auggie; go."

Auggie turned to Annie and asked, "What do you want your name to be?"

"Elizabeth Louise Tarantino. Nickname Betty Lou or BLT. Educated at Georgetown as a Russian, European and Middle Eastern languages triple major, theater minor."

"Not really credible is it?"

"I have a triple major – Russian, Middle Eastern, and European Languages. A minor in theater. Honest, Auggie; I really did it."

"I learn something new about you every day."

"Go, Auggie. That's enough to get you started. I'll come by and see what's developing after I get out of here."

Auggie gave Annie's hand another squeeze and left.

Annie turned to Joan and said, "We need to coordinate this and figure out a plan for using it. That means we need Burk and Rossabi online, right?"

"You're reading my mind."

"Do you have any idea how scary that thought is?"

"Yeah, frightens me too." Joan and Annie shared a rare moment of bonding. Then Joan pressed the speaker button on her phone and told her Administrative Assistant to set up an encrypted conference call between her, Special Agent Megan Burk of the FBI Philadelphia office, and Supervisory Special Agent Vincent Rossabi of the DC office.

Annie said, "Would this be a good time for me to visit the restroom?"

"Of course." Annie nodded and left. When Annie returned, Joan had apparently just started the conversation. She slipped into Joan's office and carefully closed the door. She was just in time to hear Rossabi say, "Joan, we have to read in Ross. Not doing it is a deal breaker."

Joan wasn't surprised when she looked at Annie and saw her shake her head 'no.' "Sorry about this, Megan." Then she said. "Rossabi, we're fine with a broken deal. Goodbye." She pressed the button to end the call.

Annie said, "Well, it was fun to be an FBI Agent, but it didn't last long."

"Oh, this isn't over. Not by a long shot. They're scrambling to regroup as we talk. Give them an hour, two at the most, and they will call back. Meanwhile, let's check in with Auggie and see what he's figured out." She pressed a button on her phone, and Auggie answered on speaker, "Joan?"

"You and Stu have any new thoughts while we're waiting for the FBI to rake its windblown leaves into a pile and put them in the basket?"

"Yeah, Stu and I will be right there."

About two minutes later they showed up, Stu with his iPad and some printed pictures, Auggie with his cane and an excited look on his face. Joan saw the excitement and said, "What's got you all worked up, Auggie?"

"This is pretty cool. Stu, put that print you made of the area on the table and go over it with Joan and Annie."

Stu placed the picture on Joan's conference table. Annie and Joan moved in close. Stu gave them a minute to take in the picture then said, "This area here, inside this fence, is the cell's HQ. It's a big warehouse about 300 yards long and close to 100 yards wide. It has 24' ceilings. But that's not what's so cool. There are interesting patterns of heat signatures that suggest there are as many as eight or ten people there at night but only two or three during the day. We learned there was nobody there last Wednesday because they were blasting on this adjacent site where there is apparently some big construction project that's in work. They are going to be blasting again this coming Wednesday. That will clear out the cell's warehouse Wednesday night. They have been issued an evacuation order by OSHA because of the blasting next door."

Annie said, "I could bug it Wednesday night if we can get ready. We'd need FISA warrants. If it's deserted, I wouldn't have a problem. With no interference all I'd need would be some gen four night vision goggles, infrared and ultrasonic detectors, black coveralls and a bag of bugs. We'd own that place by the next morning. It's a big place; I'd need at least fifty bugs – they'd need to be burst transmitting sequential trigger types. Any chance of sequestering a receiver on one of the buildings across the street, or maybe across the river if it isn't too far?"

"You are reading our minds," Auggie replied, "and across the river is too far, but under the eaves of the four-story building across the street is just about perfect. It would be in a good position to pick up from any bugs that weren't underground. The limitation of the bugs Annie's talking about is their very low power. They will get out of that warehouse; there are enough windows up under the eaves, but not much farther than across the street. They won't work under ground or under a concrete floor."

Joan jumped in before this could get out of control, "Annie's right; we'd need a FISA warrant to do that. I think we need to have Rossabi get it. He has all the evidence he needs. But I don't want him to let Ross know about the bugs quite yet." Joan thought for a few seconds and then said, "I like the idea. If we can get a warrant, Annie, are you willing to go in and bug it?"

"Sure. I can do that even if the FBI cover ID isn't in place if I have FISA warrant coverage. The place will be deserted. I'll take an infrared and ultrasonic sensor anyway to detect alarms, but it shouldn't be a problem. Do we know the hours of the mandatory evacuation?"

Stu answered, "8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m."

"That's plenty of time."

"Any other thoughts?"

Auggie said, "Well, maybe, but we haven't talked to Annie about it yet, and we usually run things by her before we bring them to you."

"There's no time for that. Annie has veto power, so whatcha got?"

"This construction site – it's a government contract. The site is twice the size of the Cell's warehouse. They have a bunch of heavy equipment there. We were thinking of getting Annie in there undercover as a bulldozer operator – well, officially the machine is called a track loader – it has tracks like a bulldozer, but it has this big loader bucket on the front instead of a blade."

"Annie, you ever driven something like that?"

"Nope."

"Stu, Auggie, what makes you think Annie can run one of those well enough to fool the other operators on site?"

Auggie said, "Joan, she can drive anything with an engine that isn't an aircraft."

Stu added, "My uncle is an excavating contractor. I worked summers driving a Caterpillar 953 track loader just like those. They have two of them on the site. I'm a klutz with machinery, but I learned to run that in two days. Annie could run it in a day based on how well she drives a car. There is an operator training school that would take her over next weekend. They've trained DHS, FBI, and some CIA operatives from time to time. They have nothing going on there this weekend, and would be willing to have her come in Friday evening until dark. They could give her give her twelve to fourteen hours of training Saturday and Sunday if she's up to it. When I contacted the school through HR, I was transferred to their person that handles training for classified government agencies. I was surprised by that but apparently this isn't all that unusual. Anyway, their representative offered to send the 'classified client' instructor to look over the site and make sure he trained her to do things she's likely to be asked to do."

"Annie, you are being real quiet."

Annie's reply was, "Anybody got a picture of a Caterpillar nine fifty what's it? I've no clue what you are talking about. In addition, you'd need to construct a credible covert ID to get me on site. Undercover FBI isn't going to work, and with it being a government contract, the other machine operators are going to be Operating Engineers Union out of the Hall, so even getting me onsite will be hard."

"We have the rest of the week to solve that problem. The bugs are the first priority," Joan said, then turned to Annie and continued, "If we can satisfy your concerns, are you willing to give it a try?"

"The FBI NOC, the heavy equipment operator NOC, the bugging, which?"

"All the above."

"Sure. I could see some long-term benefit to both NOCs. But I don't want any more FBI people finding out I'm a Covert Officer for the CIA. Nobody but the guy you need to get the NOC in place, anyway."

"We're on the same page. Auggie, I think Annie and I are ready to take on Burk and Rossabi when they call back. You guys go get to work. Auggie, add Barber to your team for developing the NOC IDs."

"Will do."

With that, Stu started to pick up his pictures when Joan said, "Please leave the pictures and the plot plans for the construction site and the warehouse along with the Google Earth prints."

Stu said, "Okay, but I need this laptop."

"No problem."

Annie said, "Joan, I could use another cup of coffee, how about you?"

"Yeah. If you go get it, I'll call the Starbucks, and they can put them both on my tab."

"Deal."

While Annie was gone, Joan used the time to consolidate what had taken place in her head. She needed the time to be sure she had it straight because any indication of weakness would have Rossabi going for the throat.

Ten minutes later Annie returned with the coffee, set it on Joan's table, and settled on the couch. One of the things Joan liked about Annie was she didn't need to be talking or in a conversation all the time. She had the gift of repose when she needed it, like now, to go over all that had transpired in the last hour.

Then the phone rang indicating it was Joan's Administrative Assistant. "Yes?"

"I have an encrypted conference call with Special Agents Burk and Rossabi."

Annie wrinkled her nose and grinned. Joan responded with a rare, slow smile and said, "I'll take it here."

"Okay."

Joan hung up and waited for the call to ring through. At the first ting of sound, she pressed the buttons to activate the encryption and picked up. She heard Burk and Rossabi already talking and interrupted to let them know she was on the line. "I thought we were at an impasse."

Rossabi came back, "No you didn't, but let's don't fight about it, okay?"

When Joan didn't say anything he continued, "As you no doubt anticipated, Agent Burk and I have been on the phone with our Director, your Director, the DCI, and Arthur Campbell. That wasn't easy to arrange. We had a five minute window to make our pitch. That ended ten minutes ago. Our Director is onboard and accepts your conditions because your management, and especially your Director, was adamant that they would not allow any further read in on Agent Walker's covert status. I was quite frankly surprised. Usually there is a weak link, but Walker has them solidly on her six." He paused, clearly waiting for a rejoinder of some sort, when none came, he continued, "While we were busy with the politics, did you folks have any ideas?"

"I thought you'd never ask, but first things first. Just to be sure we are crystal clear: Annie will have a full viable NOC as a credentialed FBI officer including a badge, bulletproof pedigree, weapon, and arrest power. Nobody but you two, Agent Bell, the NOC development liaison guy, and the FBI Director will know about it. This will all be written down and put in an order to be signed and kept under seal by a Federal Judge. We give Annie a copy of it to sequester wherever she wants just in case things go south. It's her parachute."

"Yes to all of that. Your Director and Arthur were firm about the signed and sealed Federal Judge's order to protect her." He paused and asked, "Walker, you're there, right?"

"Yes."

"You are about as political as a marshmallow, so I don't know what you did to earn that level of support from that set of godfathers, but I'm impressed."

"Thank you ... I think. But you didn't mention Larson. He was with Bell at the incident down south of Carlisle. He has a good guess at what I am. If he's on the task force and sees me in a meeting, he could blow the whole thing. I think you need to add him to the read in much as I don't want to."

"You have a point. Joan, you good with that?"

"Yes. But nobody else."

"I agree." Rossabi paused a second then continued, "Joan, you have a plan, right?"

"Yes. Let's leave the FBI NOC for a moment and do some practical planning. Agent Burk, you are going to have to take credit for this with your boss. If you aren't comfortable with that, we'll defer to whatever you have in mind, but let me give you an overview if you're willing."

"Yes. Please. I'm willing to run interference with Ross if we agree on a plan."

"Do you have a Google Earth picture of the cell's warehouse?"

"Yes."

"West of the cell's warehouse there is a big construction site with a bunch of heavy equipment on it. We propose to place Annie onsite there using a bulldozer operator NOC to observe what happens. She can be ready to do that a week from today if we have gotten her NOC cleared and patched into the Operating Engineers Database."

"Why put her there; wouldn't she be better in an office with a computer?"

"That's not how we operate. You guys have that covered. We want eyeballs on site. We also need a FISA warrant through one of you to place bugs onsite Wednesday night – day after tomorrow. There is going to be a mandatory blasting evacuation of the Cell's warehouse, their whole site, that night. They are blasting on the construction site fairly close to the site boundary between the warehouse and the construction site. Annie can slip in and bug that warehouse from end to end while it's empty. We need to do it Wednesday because that's the final scheduled blasting evacuation. We don't know that it's the last they will ever do, but it's the final one that's been scheduled. It will be way too risky to do it at night without the evacuation."

"Why?"

"Because they have put in some underground rooms where they are busy doing what terrorists do. Our data indicates they have eight to ten people in that warehouse every night except when they've been cleared out by the mandatory blasting evacuation order."

"Ross isn't going to like that."

"Then don't tell him. Annie, your history will be of largely autonomous undercover operations. You willing to take the heat for prodding Rossabi into getting the warrant?"

"Sure. I'll just stand in front of The Director's picture, point to it, and say, 'He made me do it'."

Rossabi said, "Is it safe to be in there with them blasting next door? I'm sure there is a safety reason for the mandatory evacuation. Walker you shouldn't be taking that sort of risk."

"You're kidding, right?" Annie asked.

"No, I don't kid about things like that."

"Rossabi, bugging that warehouse during a mandatory evacuation is a cake walk compared to ... never mind. It's a cakewalk. Nothing to it. I'll go in there, plant fifty bugs, and split. They will never know I was there, but we definitely need a warrant because I want the bug data to be admissible if you succeed in taking this guy down."

"If you say so," Rossabi replied.

Agent Burk asked, "Can Jo go in with you?"

Annie responded, "No. I go alone, or I don't go. Period. Not negotiable."

Burk said, "Joan?"

"I'm with Annie on this. She'll do it; I'll swear to it."

"Okay. I was just trying to get her some experience."

Before Joan could reply Annie said, "Operations involving violent terrorist cells are the wrong time to send in trainees. Bringing along an amateur can turn the mission from a cake walk into a disaster in less than two seconds."

Burk, apparently trying for a bit of a guilt trip, "I thought you said this would be a cake walk."

Annie, obviously not having any of it said, "It is, for me. It isn't for Jo or anybody else that hasn't done it before."

"But-"

"Joan, do I have to be here for this meeting? It's devolved to whining."

"If they want to move forward, I need you, otherwise, no."

Rossabi got the meeting back on track when he asked, "Walker, are you good with the equipment operating NOC?"

"Yes."

"Well, all right then. I'll put together a classified memo of understanding with all this in it and arrange the sign off by the Director's and the Federal Judge. Would it be too much to ask for a status report on the bugging?"

"No problem. We'll send you a report on the bugging. We'll also include you on the daily bug dump report."

"I'll keep you informed about Ross's schedule for activating his task force. At the moment I don't see it happening before a week from today. Most likely it will be a week from Wednesday. Mid-week is a favorite time for big announcements, and this Wednesday is too soon. The general consensus is that there is no hurry. This cell has been in place for nearly five years, and so far, their only product is the failed diner shooting."

"They only failed because of incredible bad luck on their part. They didn't fail because of any due diligence on our part or yours. They would have succeeded on any Sunday before or since." Joan said.

"Yeah," Burk added, "It isn't like we outwitted them; they just stumbled over Ms. Walker and took a fatal fall."

"I think we're done here." Joan said. "We'll get back to you. I'll send encrypted reports to the two of you at the FBI and nobody else. Ross doesn't know about us, and he never will if this goes according to plan."

"I'm good," said Rossabi.

"Same here," said Burk. Joan pressed the 'End' button on her phone, and the conversation was over.

Joan sat back in her chair, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She rubbed her face, then sat up and looked in Annie's direction, "You know what you have to do?"

"Yeah, go shopping for clothes to look like a girl that grew up on construction sites driving a bulldozer. Get some grease under my fingernails. Maybe learn some Caterpillar or heavy equipment jokes? I'll get in touch with the trainer at the school I'll be attending. I need to spend some time with that guy ASAP. The other operators will know I'm an imposter in two seconds if I say or do anything wrong or out of character."

"Talk to Stu and Auggie. It's going on noon, and I've more than this on my plate. Watch your back out there; I wouldn't be surprised to learn they have a hit out on you. You need to be real near the top of their list of bad guys."

"Can you put a detail on Danielle without her knowing?"

"That's my next act; now get out of here and let me do it."

Annie collected her clothes and gear bag and left Joan's office.

* * *

**AN:** Sure would love to know what you think about the story so far.

07/17/2013


	7. Chapter 7: Strike Three

The Third Man / FW

12

**Chapter 7: Strike Three**

**6:03 p.m. Tuesday, Day 9: Approach to Safe House.**

Annie's hyper-vigilance saved them. She wasn't even aware what had stimulated her reaction until after she got herself and Auggie to safety and had a few seconds to replay it in her mind. It was then she realized she'd noticed one of the windows, that had looked like a vacant apartment yesterday, was open as she parked the car. Then, as they approached the garden wall, she'd seen a glint in the open window and reacted instinctively. She tripped against Auggie; it made him fall forward out of sight behind the decorative planter wall that led to the safe house entry. She'd blundered into Auggie in such a way that it would look to any hit man lurking behind that glint as if she stumbled. When she'd heard the bullet hit the brick wall a split second later, she scrambled forward below the level of the wall, pleased that Auggie heard it too, and knew exactly what it was.

Annie said, "I know where he is. He can't see us here in front of the door. It's okay to stand up, "and helped Auggie stand up hidden from the sniper's view. She recovered his cane and got them inside the safe house without exposing them to the sniper again. She turned on music to cover their conversation in case the place had been bugged and spoke directly in his ear, "You text Langley. I don't think he knows we know he's there. The rifle is obviously suppressed, and he's shooting subsonic ammo. I'm almost certain I know exactly where the shot came from. I'm going to go take him down, hopefully alive."

"Wait for backup."

She replied from over by her gear bag where she had pulled out her Glock 19 and a magazine she quickly verified had fifteen rounds in it. She reached back in and pulled out some zip ties that she stuffed in her left rear pocket. "Nope. Please stay right here. The front door is locked. I'm outta here. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, call nine one one. I don't want them to arrive before the FBI. If you need to call somebody, call Joan. She hasn't been pissed at me for almost two whole days."

"Annie!"

"Auggie, this is a no brainer. If he thinks we suspect an attack, he'll be gone before I can get there. If he doesn't, he's a sitting duck. The one thing I'm sure of is he won't come after us here in the apartment. He clearly plans on escaping undetected and coming here to attack would about ruin his chances."

Annie stepped through the door, took a quick look around to orient herself, closed it, and checked that it was locked. She turned and sprinted down the alley behind the apartment building headed for the street. Her goal was to get behind and into the building where she'd seen the glint in the window. She was pretty sure she could locate the apartment the shot came from on the third floor. She pulled her nicely faded CAT T-shirt out of her jeans, tucked the Glock into her belt in the small of her back on the run, and flipped the shirt over it. It wouldn't work in a restaurant, but people that saw her from the front wouldn't know it was there.

As she ran, her mind reverse engineered the sniper shot. _No muzzle report. No sonic crack. That means he had to be close. No more than 150 yards. It's only about 100 yards to that window. That confirms the glint. I'd set up on a table back in the room to get a good angle without the rifle hanging out the window. Even so, he should have had a honeycomb anti-glare shield on the front of his scope. This guy isn't former military. _

_But, how did he find us? These people are almost scary in their ability to track down Auggie and me. Hope he doesn't take advantage of the fact that he's going to live at least until I get the answer to that question. There is probably not a lot more he can tell us other than how he found us and maybe who he works for – if he actually even knows. But I really want him to tell me that. It doesn't help that, thanks to FBI politics, he's had a several day head start on us. I'm going to give Rossabi a piece of my mind when this is over. He's right back to his old ways._

Her thinking snapped back to her immediate mission when she found the back stairwell door of the building swinging shut after a tenant left and managed to grab it. She smiled at him to convey thanks but not with enough warmth to invite conversation. While she climbed the stairs, she looped two of the zip ties into a poor man's handcuff of connected loops that were big enough for a large male hand to fit through. The rest were left straight and wadded into a pocket.

She learned later it took her about seven minutes to arrive at the door of the apartment she reasoned he would be in. She was almost shocked to see that it wasn't tightly closed. Either he was a total amateur or this was a trap. She decided on amateur based on the scope glint. She figured it was best to assume he didn't have on ear protection, since the rifle was obviously suppressed. Quiet was essential. Concerned that she might be discovered in the hallway, she wasted no more time on preparation. She squatted down to the side of the doorway, held the knob, and gently nudged the door open. With the Glock at low ready, she eased the door open ready to charge should it make a noise. Thankfully, the hinges were silent, and the latch made only a very soft snick as it slipped off the strike plate.

As the door eased out of the way, she couldn't see anything but a short entry hall, a closed door on the left that registered as maybe a closet and a bathroom door open on the right. She moved silently into the entryway, carefully closed the door, and continued down about six feet. At that point she paused and decided she could risk a brief movement to duck her head out, check in both directions, and pull back to consider what she saw. With that plan in mind, she edged forward, prepared herself to respond to discovery, took the quick glance, then pulled back to review the mental picture.

It was an efficiency apartment, bedroom door to her left, living area in front of her, closet and bathroom in hallway to the door behind her. He was to her right. He lay prone on top of a table that was set even higher on four cement half-blocks. The kitchen counter and a kitchen island were on the other side of him. In front of his eyes, he held a pair of binoculars that were pointed parallel to and over the top of a scoped rifle that rested on a bipod aligned with his left shoulder.

_He's left handed. His total lack of reaction says he's completely unaware of my presence. I can hear music blaring into his ears out of those earphones. He's wearing a T-shirt so there's no vest. He has a handgun stuck in his belt in the small of his back. He's mine!_

She pivoted around the corner, pointed her Glock at his head, and yelled, "Federal  
Agent. Hands on head."

He twitched, dropped the binoculars so they tumbled off the table onto the floor. When Annie's eyes didn't follow them, he froze with surprised eyes focused on her. Then he slowly nodded and raised his hands to place them on the back of his neck as he lowered his head to the table beside the rifle. She cleared her path visually with a quick glance, moved sideways until she was directly behind him. She saw his shoulders drop but wasn't fooled. She said, "Take off the earphones. Drop them on the floor." He did, and then she continued in a more normal voice, "I saw your shoulders drop. Try anything, and I'll blow your medulla out through your nose. You want to die?"

He said, in English with a heavy Russian accent, "No. Want to live. You let me live. I tell you what I know about who hired me."

Annie answered in Russian, "I'm interested. With your left hand on your head, use your right hand to remove the gun from your waistband and throw it on the floor by the kitchen sink. Then push the rifle off the table onto the floor."

"It will go off," he replied in Russian.

"No, it won't. I can see the safety is on from here." When she said that she saw the tension go out of his body and knew he'd basically surrendered, but she herself didn't relax at all because it could be a ruse.

"Then what?"

"One thing at a time. Do it."

He used slow movements and did exactly as Annie asked. She didn't like the noise of the pistol and rifle hitting the carpet, but it wasn't too loud and sounded more like someone up here dropped something than anything else.

"Now put your hands together behind your lower back and put your face straight down on the table. I'm going to put some zip ties on them working one handed. I've practiced doing this one handed. You won't survive an attempt on me." Annie moved in position and slipped the pre-looped zip tie over his hands. Then she jerked it tight, put the gun in her waistband, and checked it with both hands. Certain it was tight, she used a second tie to fasten his wrists to his belt. Then she zip-tied his feet together.

With him immobilized, she used a foot to move his pistol about five feet away from him. She squatted down, picked it up, cleared it, and put it and the magazine and loose cartridge in her back pocket. Next, she walked around the table, picked up his rifle, ejected the magazine, braced it against her hip, pulled the charging handle, and captured the live round that was ejected. She moved over by the bedroom door and laid both guns on the floor. Then she went to the apartment entrance and made sure the door was locked with the safety chain hooked just in case he wasn't working alone.

With weapons and area secure, she pulled out her phone and called Auggie.

"Sit. Rep?" He answered.

"Auggie, I'm uninjured. He is disarmed and immobilized. His weapons are cleared. Please call Joan, and the two of you figure out who you want to come and get him. Let me know what the plan is before whoever it is knocks on the door. I'm a bit strung out on adrenaline right now."

"WILCO. Out."

With that out of the way, she walked over, picked up a chair, moved to about five feet from the table and sat where the sniper could see her if he turned his head.

She said, still conversing with him in Russian, "Okay, who hired you?"

"He never gave me a name, but I know from my agent in Peshawar that he is located in Philadelphia. The transaction was made through my agent, a mutual contact, in Peshawar. I show you contact on computer. I don't know name," he replied in his accented English

Annie replied, also in English, "More on that later. How did you find me?"

"Was easy. I had contract with down payment last Wednesday. Contact gave me Mr. Anderson's address. No place to make ambush by his apartment. I followed you. Looked for opportunity. There wasn't any until you came to that apartment yesterday. I saw you leave Anderson's apartment in red car and go to helipad yesterday morning. I plant simple tracking device on car at helipad. When you returned to it last night, I followed you here from so far back there was no chance you see me. I laugh at your maneuvers. I rented this apartment this morning with cash deposit, false ID and got set up. If you hadn't stumbled, I'd be collecting my fee about now."

He was starting to tense up again. Annie thought that meant he might try something. She got out of the chair and in one smooth movement pushed him off the table onto the floor on the opposite side from where she was sitting. He landed hard and cried out, "I answered. You have no reason to do that."

"You are an idiot. I saw you tensing up. You thought you might surprise me somehow. You tried to kill my friend and me. You think all is forgiven just because you missed and were stupid enough to stay here hoping for a second shot?"

"I want a lawyer."

"I'm not a cop. I don't care about lawyers. Or your rights. I want answers, and I'm going to get them one way or another. My backup will be here in about five minutes. You can be all broken up and bleeding when they arrive and nobody will care. If you expect to be undamaged when they arrive, you need to talk now."

Her phone rang; she could see it was Joan. She said, "I need to take this call. You take the time to decide if you want to live, or die, or something in between. Got it?"

She touched the screen to answer the call and said, "Walker."

"Annie, what's going on?"

"I just took down a hit man who took a shot at Auggie and me as we were going into the safe house."

"Was he after you?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"He told me he was. He has a custom suppressed sniper rifle. He isn't practicing his putting, Joan. This guy was after us. I think I can guess who hired him."

"You think this is related to the diner?"

"I know it is. His customer is in Philadelphia."

"What's custom about the rifle?"

"It's an untraceable silenced M4 carbine chambered in .300 blackout. It has a twelve inch barrel and a suppressor on it. The cartridge is relatively new. They aren't common."

"Why did you go after him by yourself?"

"Joan, I knew where the shot had to have come from because I'd seen the glint off his scope, so it was a piece of cake to stalk him and take him down. I reverse engineered the shot, and it had to have come from one particular apartment. In addition to that, I have him here in front of me, zip tied, and I'm trying very hard not to blow his head off. The fact that he seems to be willing to talk is what's stopping me. You might want to get Rossabi here while there is still someone to arrest. You know I don't like Russian's very much, and this guy's just dumb enough to give me an excuse to express my displeasure."

"Have you learned anything from him?"

"Yes, but I can learn a lot more if you let me get back to questioning him."

"Call me after Rossabi picks him up."

"Okay." She hung up and looked at her prisoner.

By the time Rossabi and his agents arrived, Annie had learned about all she could from the sniper in the twenty minutes she'd had to question him. It was plenty of time. He'd been willing. He just didn't know very much. She recorded it all on her phone after she told him his Miranda Warning - or as close as she could remember it– making arrests wasn't her thing.

When Rossabi knocked, Annie was ready. She went to the door with her Glock back in her waistband at about 5 o'clock and her T-shirt over it. She saw Rossabi through the peephole, but opened it at first with the chain in place. Rossabi was flanked by two guys pointing suppressed machine guns at her. "You all FBI?"

"Yes. Now, please let us in."

"Rossabi, tell them to point those things someplace else. I don't want to get shot by some trigger happy HRT wanna be." She closed the door, disconnected the chain, opened it, and backed into the apartment keeping with her hands in plain sight. "I'm serious, Rossabi; tell them to stop pointing their damn guns at me or I'll do something about it."

Rossabi turned around and said, "Lower the weapons. You guys stay in the hall. I've got this." The weapons were lowered slowly, like they were waiting for her to do anything to provoke them. She didn't, and the guys backed slowly out into the hall.

"Good grief. Close the door."

Rossabi turned around and shut the door, then turned back and said, "They get all hyped up."

"Yeah?" Annie felt her anger rise. It was fueled by both adrenaline and the FBI's negligence – it had made this attack possible. She turned to Rossabi with such intensity that he backed up the whole time she was talking, "Fire the idiots. They act just like mall ninja wannabes looking for an excuse to shoot to me. That's why so many people get twenty rounds put in them by law enforcement. It's called contagious shooting. The first one makes a mistake, and the rest empty their weapons at the victim. Then they claim the victim made a threatening move. It's bad enough you leave me hung out to dry with no warning so a hit man can stalk and take a shot at me. Then you have those assholes pointing sub-machineguns at me with their fingers on the triggers. Whose side are you on anyway?"

"I'm sorry," he said, unable to meet her eyes as he finally moved into the room and got a look at the sniper stretched out on the floor.

"Sorry doesn't fix it. Don't ever do that again."

"I won't." He studied the trussed up sniper who was lying on the floor for a few seconds and said, "What's the story here?"

Calmed by her outburst, Annie focused on the job and went through the story succinctly and quickly leaving out nothing important. She also told Rossabi she'd questioned the guy, and that she would send him the recording of the conversation, including her telling the guy his Miranda Warning, or as close to them as she could remember it, She took him over to where the sniper's weapons were laid out and gave him the short report on the rifle.

Rossabi listened without comment until she was done. Then he said, "Okay. I've got this. I want you out of here before anybody else shows up. I'll bring in the team leader to watch this guy. Then I'll personally walk you to the back door to avoid any problems, or testosterone spills - theirs or ... yours. This is the whole team so once you are out the door you are free of us. You can get back into the apartment where you are staying without being seen from the window?"

"Yes."

"Send me the recording; you have my cell, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, give me a minute."

Rossabi left the apartment, and in about a minute, he returned with one of the 'team' guys. Annie glared at the guy who studiously avoided eye contact as Rossabi led him into the room. Rossabi returned to the hall and motioned for Annie to follow him out of the apartment. She did, and he walked her to the back stairwell where she'd come in. She said, "I'll be in touch." And she left.

Annie had almost returned to the apartment when her phone rang. She pulled it out, saw the call was from Joan, stopped walking, made sure the area around her was clear out of habit, and answered it, "Joan."

"Annie, when will you be able to get back in here? We need to have a talk, like right now."

"I need to get back to Auggie, pack up what we've unpacked, and move out of this apartment. It's compromised. We need a new safe house. We can be back at Langley in a little over an hour. I also need to find the tracking device that creep planted on my car and take it to Auggie's guys. We might learn something from it. Uh ... Make that an hour-and-a-half. I need to get some food in me. Can you get me back into Langley, again? With my guns? Or do you want us to go to ground?"

"I'll get you back in here. Same gate as before. I'll wait here for you." She ended the call.

_She's pissed again. I seem to have a gift for pissing her off. I don't know what she expected me to do - I just went and neutralized a threat. The guy is still alive. Not even bleeding. That guy wasn't nearly as good as he thought he was, but he still nearly succeeded. Against someone with less awareness he would have. Why isn't beating him a good thing?_

Annie and Auggie entered the DPD a little over two hours later. Annie looked around and noticed the level of activity was more or less normal for that late in the evening. She hadn't been back since her brief morning stop unless you counted an even briefer one to pick Auggie up after he finished work and she completed her first session with the man who was her instructor at the heavy equipment school. The day had been spent very productively working on her Betty Lou, heavy equipment operator, cover story.

She and Auggie went directly to Joan's office. She'd apparently been notified of their arrival and waved them in and then said, for Auggie's benefit, "Please come in," as they approached.

As they entered the office, Annie gave a start when she saw a strange man holding the sniper's rifle sitting on the couch. Joan must have noticed her reaction because she said, "Relax, Annie, this is Rick Tac; he's one of our tactical weapon experts. I arranged for him to pick up the rifle from Rossabi and bring it here after they quickly dusted it for prints."

"Why?"

"I wanted to see this untraceable custom sniper rifle you described. It doesn't look very impressive to me. Tell me about it."

"Joan, you've already asked him. Is this a test?"

"Yes."

"Okay. The rifle is an M4 lower receiver with a flat top upper receiver. It's chambered in .300 Blackout. The .300 Blackout is a relatively recent cartridge based on the .300 Whisper wildcat. The Whisper cartridge is, quite simply, the .221 Fireball case necked up to take thirty caliber bullets. It was created to be used in suppressed varmint rifles with bullets loaded to subsonic velocities. The new barrel probably has a twist rate of one turn in seven inches. The short twist rate is to stabilize subsonic heavy for caliber bullets. Since the muzzle velocity is limited to less than a thousand feet per second to eliminate the sonic crack, the only way to increase the lethality of the bullet, is to make the bullet heavier. This one was loaded with subsonic ammo - in this case, what looked like a round nosed two hundred twenty grain cast lead hollow point bullet. The hollow point is pretty big, sort of a flying ashtray variant, to enhance expansion at the expected low impact velocities. It will hit quite a bit harder than a suppressed nine mil round.

"It has a one to four power NightForce scope on it which is plenty adequate for the rifle's probable hundred fifty yard useful range on human targets. That scope is one of the best made. It's expensive. It cost more than the rifle, but it's what I'd choose for that rifle. Beyond the hundred fifty yards I mentioned the bullet starts to drop pretty fast and even minor range errors could result in missing the vital zone. It also has a Trijicon RM oh two holographic red dot back up sight which you can see tilted off to the right side of the scope. The shooter is left handed. The front grip has a laser built in but the laser was turned off when I took it from the sniper."

Annie stopped. Joan looked at her and said, "On the phone you said it was un-traceable. How did you know that?"

"It has no serial number. I don't mean it was removed; I mean it never had one."

"What? How can that happen?"

She turned to Mr. Tac, held out her hand, and asked, "May I?"

Her request apparently took him by surprise but he recovered quickly and said, "Uh, sure." He locked the bolt open and handed her the rifle.

Annie started her explanation while she verified the rifle was unloaded, closed the bolt, dry fired the rifle, and pushed out the disassembly pin at the rear of the receiver. "Easy and perfectly legal. The only part of this rifle that the ATF cares about is the lower receiver. The sniper bought an unfinished lower receiver casting and machined it himself using a drill press and a tooling jig." She pushed out the front pivot pin and lifted the upper receiver with scope and suppressor off the lower receiver, then tipped the lower receiver forward to expose the fire control cavity and trigger mechanism of the rifle. "See the fresh un-anodized aluminum here?" Joan nodded. Annie continued, "That, plus the evidence of freshly drilled holes is all the clue that's needed. To be legal, to the extent that matters to a paid hit man, he had to do it himself. I suspect he had it done for him but it doesn't really matter unless you plan to turn him. Step-by-step instructions are available on the WEB. The rest of the rifle is nothing but parts that can be sold freely on the open market. - the barrel is only twelve inches long, which makes it an NFA weapon, but that is also easy to make happen. Just buy a legal sixteen-inch barrel, cut it off, and thread it for the suppressor. The suppressor is also home made. There is nothing about this that couldn't be done by a hobby home machinist. But if you go to the sniper's armory, where ever it is, you will probably find another 4 or 5 lower receivers without serial numbers."

Annie set down the lower receiver and took advantage of the bayonet mount of the suppressor, gave it a quick quarter turn and pulled it off the barrel. Then she continued her mini-lecture, "While I have it this far, notice that the rifle easily disassembles into 4 major pieces that permit it to be carried in a case much smaller than an equivalent bolt action rifle. The magazine, the suppressor, the upper receiver complete with scope so the alignment between the barrel and scope isn't changed, and the lower receiver. Assembly, or disassembly, takes 30 to 40 seconds, no tools required." After which she proceeded re-assemble the rifle and perform a function check on it in the space of about 30 seconds.

When she looked up and turned to hand the rifle back to Rick she noticed both of them staring at her looking somewhat stunned. She said, "What?"

Rick said, "I'm not that good with one of those and that's my area of expertise."

Annie's expression hardened enough that he sat back before she replied, "Ever been in a gun fight?"

"No."

"That's the difference between theory and practice." Then she locked the bolt open and handed it back to Rick and, softening a bit since he wasn't attacking her, said, "Sorry I snapped at you like that. I'm a bit wound up right now. I was shot at a couple of hours ago and didn't get to shoot back. Thanks."

He nodded, and said, "No problem." His eyes showed a whole new level of respect. She turned back to see Joan, with a look bordering on awe in her eyes, and continued, "The reason Auggie and I aren't dead or wounded is because it doesn't have a reflection killing honey comb on the scope's objective lens. With the sun shining into the window and no curtain covering the part he didn't need to see through, that glint from where there should be none is what triggered my response. I was wound up pretty tight after learning yesterday that someone could be after us. That they might have been after us for days. And, in fact, he has. He told me he's had the contract since last Wednesday. And we weren't alerted for political reasons. Anyway, when I saw that glint, I reacted before I even realized what I was reacting to. When Auggie and I heard the bullet hit the brick front of the building behind us, we both knew exactly what it was. We managed to get out of the sniper's sight without him realizing we knew we'd been shot at."

Joan looked at the specialist and said, "Anything to add?"

"No, Joan. What do you need me for? She's got this covered."

"Thanks, Rick. I didn't realize she had this expertise. Hand her the rifle, and I'll let you get home to your family. Thanks for staying. That was all Greek to me. "

Rick stood, verified the rifle was empty out of habit, and handed it to Annie with the bolt open. She said, "Thanks."

"Any time, Ms. Walker," Rick replied with a nod and a look of respect, and then left closing the door behind him.

"Annie, my head is spinning. Up until two weeks ago I knew you as a brilliant linguist and extremely promising covert agent. You were someone able to think on your feet, with the moral courage and conviction to follow your values. Before that, the mission to Russia blew my mind. The escape told me you have developed a support team that is extraordinary. Now I find you are a world-class gunfighter and a weapons expert. I just wasn't ready for that. I'm still not ready for that."

"Just trying to stay alive, Joan." Annie paused and said, "Let me put this thing away." She quickly and with obvious expertise disassembled the rifle stowed the component parts in the case, zipped it shut and stood it against the end of Joan's couch. Then she, sat on the couch, took a deep breath, turned to Joan, and continued, "While I'm here, do you want to hear what I learned at the heavy equipment school and my training schedule?"

"Yes. Yes I do. But first, do you have the tracking device?"

"Yes."

Joan thought for a second and said, "Auggie, would you take it to your guys and see what you can learn?"

The expression on Auggie's face changed from observer to participant and he said, "Yeah. I'd like that." A few seconds later he was out of the office moving towards his office.

Annie turned her attention back to Joan and said, "I'll send you an e-mail with my notes, but the bottom line is this: I talked to the trainer that HR recommended. I can work with the guy. He's trained three other Covert Officers for the CIA. He has a Top Secret Clearance and doesn't ask any questions that aren't related specifically to training for the intended operation. I talked to him on the phone before I went out there and e-mailed him a photo of the site where I'd be operating. By the time I got there, he'd researched it and told me it was a government contract, union shop. He learned the union rep in the area is an asshole and a bully. Lot of banged up union members. He said I'd need a bullet proof union card, more guts than a brass monkey and cooperation from the contractor to get in there."

"And you said?"

"I have the contractor and union card covered. What I need is to be able to fool the other operators on site."

"He said there are three pieces of equipment there that I might be asked to operate, but of them the CAT 953 B track loader, they call it a 53, would be the easiest to learn quickly. He said there wouldn't be any grading that would require more skill than I could acquire in two or three days of intensive training, if I have a knack for it. I told him I was a former pro-rally driver, and he said, 'Then you have the depth perception, so it's no problem; this is easier than that'."

"What other equipment?"

"They have three New Holland LS 185 skid steer loaders, a couple of fifteen ton Case excavators and a small grader. No backhoes. But he said they would most likely put me in the 53 because the older guys don't like driving them - they are too hard on the back and knees. The tracks are a rough ride and the foot operated steering controls are hard on older knees. He said there is almost no chance I could learn the grader well enough to fool anybody, and the senior union folks would want to drive it. He said the most likely place for them to assign me is one of the 53s. He said I'd do fine with it if he gives me some special trench training."

"Trench training?"

"He said they have been track drilling for over a week and are going to be blasting soon, which aligns with what we are expecting. He said they would be using the track loaders to clean the trench of rubble, and that it would be a little tricky. He's willing to teach me to build the ramps and how to operate on them and keep the machine track side down, as he calls it."

"When do you go out there?"

"It's not too far. Tomorrow night I'm going to bug the warehouse in Philly. I'll drive back Thursday morning. I plan to report for training at zero six hundred Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. He said he will make an opening so I can train as long as I have time. I can continue after dark. Apparently, HR takes good care of the school when they train people like me. It's only a forty minute drive. I can sleep at the new safe house. It would be nice if it was on that side of town."

"Why don't you and Auggie stay in one of the decompression rooms down stairs at least for tonight? I'll work out how to fly you back and forth to Philly so you can take your weapons with you. We should have your construction NOC apartment ready by tomorrow night."

"That works for me."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I think I have a good way in. HR put me on the phone, conference call with Burk and the contractor: the guy that owns the business anyway. I was introduced as FBI Agent Betty Lou Tarantino. The contractor is good with me being there as undercover FBI. He needs an additional CAT operator for at least a week, and could stretch that because they need to do more blasting than they originally expected. He's on a schedule incentive contract. According to Agent Burk, that means the sooner he's done the more they make. My being there will solve a problem for him, but he said the union rep will be difficult."

"How so?"

"Apparently the Operating Engineers Union there has a lock on government contracts. There are no non-union operators allowed on site. That's not a problem; I'll have a Union Card. The problem is that the Union Rep takes a kickback, illegal but he does it anyway, from the members for picking them to go to the site. He has been known to 'punish' members that don't give him his cut, and to have had numerous union members that stumbled and fell down while losing their union cards. Apparently, if they lose their card they have to go through some process to get a new one that takes time. They can't work without it. From what the contractor said, the guy is big, rough and a bully."

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Forewarned is forearmed. I'll give him one chance to avoid bleeding."

"That works. What was Burk's reaction to all this?"

"The contractor asked her if she _had_ to send a female agent. When she told him yes, he asked if this female agent she was sending could handle herself."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"What was Burk's response?"

"She said, 'You have no idea'."

"She's right. Anything else?"

"Oh, yeah, the contractor belongs to a gym not too far from where they are setting up my NOC apartment. He offered to meet me there tomorrow late in the afternoon. We agreed he should know what I look like, so if he's on site when I am, it's no surprise. I set a time that lets me meet him, then go bug the warehouse. It turns out he can hire me as long as I have a paid up union card because it's a closed shop. So that's how I'm going to get hired onto the job site. He'll do it himself and tell the Superintendent I'm coming."

When Joan nodded, Annie continued, "That sounded good to me, so we pretty much left it like that. He's expecting me to be on site sometime around seven Monday morning. He'll have the third track loader delivered there this weekend – Sunday. He doesn't want the Union Rep to know I'm coming until after I'm there. He's expecting they will have more blast rubble since they will be on paid overtime with the track drills Saturday so they can blast again Sunday night. If they are late with the drills, he said their next window of approval for blasting is Wednesday night. He will try to make sure I'm assigned to one of the fifty threes, at least to start, but says the site superintendent has the final say. He also said he hates to over ride the super but it usually isn't necessary. We left it at that."

"That sounds good to me. Anything else?"

"I need to hit the gym. I've done nothing but run for a while, and I want to go hit something and get in a good work out with Auggie to be sure I'm not rusty when this assignment starts."

"You need some sleep too. I'll make sure you know which room you and Auggie are assigned. At least you don't have to drive anywhere if you are staying here."

* * *

**AN:** _How did you like this chapter? What was good? What wasn't so good? What would you like to see happen?_

07/17/2013


	8. Chapter 8: Bugging the Warehouse

The Third Man / FW

10

**Chapter 8: Bugging Warehouse**

**Previously:**

_So that's how I'm going to get hired onto the job site. He'll do it himself and tell the Superintendent I'm coming."_

_When Joan nodded, Annie continued, "That sounded good to me, so we pretty much left it like that. He's expecting me to be on site sometime around seven Monday morning. He'll have the third track loader delivered there this weekend – Sunday. He doesn't want the Union Rep to know I'm coming until after I'm there. He's expecting they will have more blast rubble since they will be on paid overtime with the track drills Saturday so they can blast again Sunday night. If they are late with the drills, he said their next window of approval for blasting is Wednesday night. He will try to make sure I'm assigned to one of the fifty threes, at least to start, but says the site superintendent has the final say. He also said he hates to over ride the super but it usually isn't necessary. We left it at that."_

_"That sounds good to me. Anything else?"_

_"I need to hit the gym. I've done nothing but run for a while, and I want to go hit something and get in a good work out with Auggie to be sure I'm not rusty when this assignment starts."_

_"You need some sleep too. I'll make sure you know which room you and Auggie are assigned. At least you don't have to drive anywhere if you are staying here."_

**7:00 p.m. Wednesday, Day 10: Bugging Warehouse.**

Thanks to Joan taking care of the logistics, she'd flown to Philadelphia in an agency chopper with her gear to get her there in time for her meeting with the contractor. That had gone well.

Her meeting with the contractor that she would go to work for on Monday concluded, Annie studied the grounds of the warehouse in the early evening. She was on the roof of a building about a quarter mile away with some binoculars. She'd picked it because she could only be seen from the subject warehouse and no adjoining buildings. She'd picked a route into the target warehouse through a corner of the construction site where she'd been hired to work, beginning Monday morning, if the plan stayed on track.

Working on her two new NOC's with Auggie, kept her busy with unavoidable details until driving was not possible, neither was a commercial airline given all the stuff in her gear bag, so Joan had arranged for a 230 mile chopper ride. The downside was the noise and vibration. The benefit of that was it landed at a private heliport and avoided airport security problems. The gym where she met the contractor was on the way to her new apartment. With the meeting, which lasted about ten minutes, over she continued on to her new apartment that had parking for her truck. It had also been equipped with a safe that she could put her handguns in when she had to leave them behind. Right now, because she was still CIA, not in the FBI NOC, and was on duty, she didn't have a gun on her. She was working under an FBI obtained FISA warrant, but the legal department said that might not be enough so she wasn't packing.

The apartment was pretty much the minimum; it fit the NOC. It was nice enough to match a prudent choice based on her probable earnings but not more than that. The truck, a silver gray 1999 4x4 Dodge 2500 extended cab with a Cummins Diesel and a 5 speed transmission, was a kick to drive. It had been waiting for her near the heliport. It had 187,000 miles on it, but she'd been told it ran like new. It showed use, but not abuse. It was pretty clearly the deluxe model because it had a nice power seat, CD player, power windows, power adjustable mirrors, and an over head panel that showed direction, temperature and probably other stuff if she knew what buttons to push.

She started it and fell in love with the sound of the engine. It wasn't a 427 like the 'Vett, but it throbbed with power, made all sorts of noise and had gears you could stir with a stick. She'd checked that the gages were all reading. Then she shut it down, climbed out, checked the oil, and looked around under the hood. She wasn't familiar with Diesel engines, but there weren't any water or oil leaks. Nothing on the asphalt under the engine compartment that looked fresh. The batteries, there were two, and the battery cables looked good, new in fact. She had shut the hood, set her GPS on the center console, and headed for the gym.

After the meeting, she'd driven to her new apartment. She unpacked her suitcase. Her construction clothes, carefully selected in several thrift stores so that they were well-worn, and some not very fancy casual wear went in the closet. She did have two business pantsuits and some sensible heels that would be suitable if she had to go to a meeting as Special Agent Tarantino.

She'd opened the safe, put in her two Glocks, the ammunition, the infrared and ultrasonic sensors and the communications gear that Auggie had given her. She put in her permits under her own name. She planned on no ID at all during the bugging mission. The rest of the gear she left in the bag. For tonight's exercise, she wanted to appear more or less normal if she ran into anybody so she had black cargo pocket jeans, a black long sleeve T-shirt, thin black horse hide driving gloves and a black scarf to tie around her hair when the time came to move into the warehouse. She also had a thin silk balaclava in her pocket that she could slip over her head if she needed to hide the shine of her face. The case containing the 50 bugs she intended to plant was left in the closet because there was a good chance nobody would know what they were anyway.

She stopped musing about the apartment and focused on the route in for another few seconds, then headed back to the apartment. She had no worries. She was confident this operation would go as planned.

It did.

She returned to the apartment with an empty bug case just after 3:00 a.m. Thursday. Showered, fell asleep, woke at 6:00, dressed in casual civilian clothes, left the truck at the Philadelphia airport and flew back via FBI jet leaving her gear and guns behind in the apartment - she'd arranged for Jo to move the truck back to the heliport so she could pick it up when she arrived Sunday evening via Agency helicopter.

**10:00 a.m. Thursday, Day 11: Joan's office at Langley.**

Annie hurried from the helipad to Joan's office just in time to join a teleconference between Agents Burk, Bell, and Rossabi, Joan, and Auggie, except Rossabi hadn't joined the call. When she walked in Joan handed her a prospective agenda for the meeting - Burk was checked as on the call, Rossabi wasn't.

She gave it a quick glance to cover for being a few minutes late. The agenda items listed were the hit attempt on her and Auggie, debrief on the warehouse bug placement and results of any bug dumps and an NOC status update.

She tuned back into the meeting and heard Agent Burk say, "No, we didn't get a chance to talk to Annie while she was here. She was in and out rather quickly. We know from Rossabi that there was an attempt but that's it. He's been closed mouth about it."

Annie looked at Joan who nodded and then answered Burk herself, "What do you want to know, Agent Burk?"

"Annie, you're there. Glad you're back safe and sound. There is so much we need to know to catch up. We haven't heard anything from Rossabi. He's playing everything really close to the vest and Ross hasn't told us anything either. How about you just give us an over view of the assassination attempt, how you foiled it, and what you learned, if anything? Then we're dying to learn what you found out while you were in the warehouse."

Annie looked at Joan and said, "This is all cleared, right."

"Yes. Go."

Annie decided to start with the assassination attempt, "The short version is the sniper wasn't very experienced and didn't have an anti-glare device on the objective lens of his scope or we'd be dead or wounded. My alertness level right now is close to PTSD levels. I saw the glint off his scope, reacted instinctively and his shot missed both of us. Auggie and I both heard the bullet hit and knew what it was. We were able to get in the front door of the safe house without exposing ourselves to him a second time. I decided it was quite likely he didn't know we knew he was there. Based on that hypothesis, with nothing to lose, I stalked him and took him into custody. Rossabi came with some sort of over-hyped team that dripped testosterone all over the place and took him off my hands."

"Over-hyped?"

"They kept pointing their guns at me and had their fingers on the triggers. I had to tell them three times to stop and then they only lowered them slowly. I told Rossabi never to do that again."

"This just gets better and better. First Rossabi leaves you hanging out there so a hit man can find and take a shot at you. Then to make up for it he has people point guns at you after the fight is over? No wonder he's too embarrassed to be on this call."

"We're getting off track here. My bad. What else do you want to know?"

"What did you mean by nothing to lose?"

"If he thought we were onto him, he'd be gone by the time I got there. If he didn't, he'd be waiting focused on getting another shot. It turned out to be the latter."

"I hadn't looked at it that way. Good thinking. Did you learn anything about him? How he located you?"

"He was born in Russia, hired a week ago yesterday by someone in Philadelphia through a middleman in Peshawar. He never saw the person that hired him - all communication was through the cut out in Peshawar. Payment was arranged via wire transfer to an off shore account he maintains for just that purpose. He was sent Auggie's apartment address, a description, and pictures of us by the cut out. The picture was taken in the restaurant parking lot. That ties him directly to the cell in Philadelphia.

"He got the contract the Wednesday after the restaurant attack. It took him a day to get to DC. He'd been following us since last Thursday trying to figure out some sort of routine so he could complete his mission and get paid. Fortunately, we were not following a normal routine. He followed us to the safe house after planting a tracking device on my car. He had a custom made suppressed rifle shooting subsonic rounds. Based on where it hit the building, his shot probably missed me by less than a foot."

"Wow. Can you tell us anything about the rifle?"

Joan answered, "She could, but not now. It isn't pertinent to the current mission."

"Okay. What happened in the warehouse?"

"I'll be writing a detailed report, but for now I'll give you the highlights."

"Please."

"I learned that the interior is quite different from the plans the city has but not in ways the city or OSHA would be likely to discover in a casual inspection. There are some stairs concealed in a set of crates that go underground. I did not go down the stairs, so I don't know what's down there. The bugs I planted wouldn't be able to transmit from down there, so I stayed out."

"It would have been nice to know what's down there."

"I agree, and I'd have explored it, but it was guarded by an alarm system of some sort that uses infrared light beams. I could not see any way to reliably defeat it in the time available. I didn't need to put bugs down there, so I kept on with the mission. There is also a conventional perimeter alarm system, but I was able to get in past that with no trouble. It didn't have any ultrasonic motion detectors, and I was able to bypass it going in and out."

"Okay. What else is in there?"

"Probably if you just let me talk this will go faster."

"Of course. Sorry. Go."

"There is an office area near a secondary freight entrance. The warehouse has a raised floor structure inside, but it also has provisions for trucks to drive in a main door near the office and up a ramp onto the main floor. There are also the conventional warehouse loading docks where semi trailers can back in along the mainland side of the building. Nothing like that on the river side that is set up to facilitate container transfer off ships. There is apparently a conventional import/export business going on that is both legitimate and completely separate from the terrorist activities. They are using it as a cover for the underground stuff. I think they must have a forklift ramp to the underground part of the facility, but I didn't see it while I was there. Only the people stairs."

"Bug placement went well. I gave Auggie a list of all the bugs I planted, the type, where they were located, and any data I could figure out that might help them optimize the DSP filtering for the audio files."

"DSP filtering?"

"Digital Signal Processing - it's essentially a computer program that can process audio files in real time to allow amplification or suppression of various parts of the sound spectrum. If you want to know more, I'd ask an in-house expert. I just told you all I know about it."

"Okay, thanks. I will. Please continue."

"I had ten bugs that could be planted in air-conditioning ducts with a wire antenna that sticks back outside the duct. I'm suspicious they won't work very well if the AC is on because of wind noise, but I put them in there anyway. The only ducts were on the office roof. The office wasn't alarmed, which surprised me, so I went in and planted bugs in every room. I hope they will transmit out of there. I don't know if Auggie's tried to dump them yet or not.

"It took me till 2:00 a. get that far. There were no papers lying around that weren't related to the legitimate business, but that didn't surprise me. I don't think we'll learn much from the daytime crowd that works in that office. I suspect they are all legitimate employees of the import/export business. As it was, I didn't have time to spend doing a more thorough search or to break into any locked cabinets, so I left.

"I basically area bugged the rest of the warehouse to capture what might happen. That's pretty much it."

"How did you get in around their so called conventional alarm system?"

"I used a pneumatically launched light weight grapple to hang a rope from one of the open under eve window openings. The rope let me climb up the outside of the building. I went in through the window. There was a catwalk around the inside. I was expecting it to be there. I used my second rope to lower myself down to the floor, and the rest is pretty much history."

"How did you get out?"

"Went back the way I came in. Used the internal stairs to get back up to the catwalk. Left the number two rope there coiled up and hidden behind a beam. Set up the grapple with a trip so I could take it with me after I got down, then went back down the outside of the building and returned to my apartment."

"How did you get into the site?"

"I went in through the blast site where I'll be working, made my way to the common fence, found a place I could squeeze through, and I was in."

"While they were blasting?"

"No. I had an earwig tuned to the blasting folks communications frequency. I knew what they were doing all the time I was on site. With that information I was able to sneak in between charges."

"I see why you didn't want company."

"No problem. I also learned there is a sniper station on the warehouse roof and bugged it. Not sure why it's there. Where it's located it doesn't have a view of the grounds at all. It may be intended as a counter sniper station in case someone attacks. Perhaps to buy time for a getaway if there was an aerial assault."

Annie thought for a few seconds then said, "That's pretty much all I have. If there are no more questions, we might move onto the next item. Like, how are my NOC's coming? Is there anything I have to do in person? Pistol qualification, or like that? If there is, I need to do it today because I report to the heavy equipment training school at seven tomorrow morning, and I need an hour to drive there. I'm in school there fourteen hours a day tomorrow through Sunday. I report to work on the site at 7:00 a.m. Monday."

Joan said, "I can answer that. Your NOC's are usable in an emergency now if Ross should surprise us with an early kick-off meeting, but they will be much deeper by late Saturday or early Sunday. I have your FBI credentials here. Rossabi had them sent over by courier. Oh ... he said you need to choose between a Glock 19 and a Glock 23 as your service weapon."

"19."

"I thought you might say that. When Rossabi called yesterday morning, I told him you were familiar with the 19, but he sent both. I'll send 23 back."

"Okay. How many magazines did they send?"

"Three for each."

"Do I need to do an FBI qualification?"

"No, The Director said he was just fine with them faking the qualification at a point or two less than half the difference between a maximum and a minimum qualifying score - that's just about the average. He said he had no doubt you could max it or set a record for the course, but he didn't want that high a score in the records with nobody remembering when it happened. He also thought you wouldn't want the attention that would go with the record score. Why would he think you could max it?"

"I have no idea, but his thinking works for me. I'd have made the same choice. I'm pretty sure I could shoot a record score on the test, but I love being underestimated." Annie looked at Joan for a couple of seconds and said, "How about the construction NOC?"

"It's done enough for you to use Monday morning. In fact, it should be bullet proof to the Union Rep and anyone in the Union by that time. I have your union credentials here as well. You are going to the heavy equipment school tomorrow as Annie Walker. I don't want to take a chance the Union gets the names of students and it somehow dings if they do a search on your NOC name. The instructor there knows your real name and that's okay because it turns out he has a top-secret clearance for just such occasions as these. The school is closed except for you Friday through Sunday. Who'd a thunk it?"

"Stranger things have happened, but I don't remember when. Okay, just for the sake of completeness, the construction NOC apartment is perfect. I love the truck. I might try to buy it when this is over. Who owns it?"

"It's rented. But you can probably buy it if you want to. Not sure why you'd want to."

"You'll understand right after I give you your first ride in it. That Cummins Diesel rocks. I'm starting at the construction site Monday morning. When will I make my first appearance as Agent Tarantino?"

Burk answered, "I think it will be Wednesday morning, but that could change. Ross is still handling this like a high profile workman's comp fraud case."

"Is there such a thing?" Annie wondered.

"Only in his mind."

"I am beginning to have second thoughts about this. Is Larson going to be there?"

"Yes. He'll be back in town tomorrow afternoon. I've asked him to meet with me as soon as he's available but definitely before he goes home, no matter what time that is. I'll read him in on the plan then. And don't worry, I'll have Agent Bell there and impress the classification on him. Jo already understands the classification since she's been in on the whole process. It's going to be a surprise for Larson."

"Tell Jo thanks for moving the truck for me. Will you let me know how the briefing with Larson goes? I need you to get a reading on whether he's bought in or not because it means keeping a secret from his boss. Is it possible to get the Director to talk to him?"

"Annie, that's a heck of a good idea. Wish I'd thought of it. I'll get on the horn with Agent Rossabi as soon as we're done here and get him to set it up. I think if the Director can fit it into his schedule, that will seal the deal. I'll let you know how that goes."

"Thanks. Joan?"

Joan took the handoff and said, "That's the published agenda. We don't have any bug dumps yet, Auggie has scheduled them for off hours. Auggie will dump the bugs and create daily updates as audio files that Annie can review while she's on the dozer if that works out. Annie can comment back via her comm. gear during the play back. Auggie will get it transcribed and forward it along with the original file. Is there anything else?"

There was a chorus of negatives so the call ended.

**5:00 a.m. Monday, Day 15: Betty Lou's Apartment, Philadelphia.**

Annie was startled awake when her phone rang. She looked at the face of the phone, learned it was Auggie, and answered the call with, "Good morning, Auggie. I miss you."

"That's two of us. It's amazing how quickly I got used to waking up with you here. You get a good sleep?"

"Yeah. This place is new and different and apparently not relaxing enough for me to have nightmares. I'm not completely awake, no coffee yet of course, but I'm feeling pretty good. I'm not tired and aching like I thought I might be after three fourteen hour days in a bulldozer. That thing's a rough ride."

"Your knees?"

She stretched her legs and flexed her knees before she said, "They are doing fine. Resilience of youth. I think I'm going to like this. There is something really cool about running a big CAT. Between the noise, the tracks, and the terrain nobody can mess with you. Sort of leaves you in your own little world."

"Well, in my world there is some new data. You want to put me on speaker and get your coffee started?"

"Yeah, I have the little Keurig with me. Just give me a minute, and I'll get it going."

"Is your computer up?"

"Uh, no."

"How about you let it boot while you're getting the coffee made?"

"Good idea. Okay, you're on speaker." She set the phone down on the little table, opened her laptop, and turned it on. Then walked a few steps to the kitchen counter, filled the little Keurig machine with 10 oz of water, stuck in a cartridge of Columbian, closed it and pushed the blinking blue button that turned it to blinking red. Then she quickly grabbed a mug and set it on the machine to catch the coffee.

"Okay, the 'puter isn't booted yet but the coffee machine is started. What's on your mind?"

"I need to call you back and do this on an encrypted call. You have your other phone there, right?"

"Yeah, it's right here. Okay, go for it."

The phone rang, they went through the ritual to engage the encryption, hung up the other phones and Auggie said, "How's the coffee coming?"

"It's done. I'm checking the e-mail ... Okay, I've got the attachment you sent: let me take a look at it. How did you compile it?"

"I dumped the bugs to a digital file. Had the software transcribe it, and then played it through to sort out garble and equipment noise segments. The result is text representing speech that was recorded. I deleted everything in English that was clearly related to the legitimate business he has going on there as a cover. There may be business dialog that's in Russian, the most prevalent non-business language, but I doubt it. In any event, that didn't leave too much, but what's there is probably the only part worth your time. If this works, I'll see if I can automate the process and get some sleep."

"I'm scanning the file now. It's only three pages of mixed languages. Turkish? What? Uh ... give me a couple of minutes to study this. Oh, and thanks for giving it to me now, I couldn't give this the attention it deserves and run that big honking machine at the same time. At least not until I have more experience with it. It would be like texting on the expressway. A prescription for disaster. Right now it takes pretty much all my attention."

Annie scanned rapidly through the document pausing only briefly on the Arabic because it was the language she had the least proficiency in. When she was done she said, "There is a surprising amount of Russian on the bug planted on the office roof in the duct by Nassir's office. He's apparently really into it with the Russian Mafia to get materials smuggled into the country."

"How comfortable is he with them."

"It's hard to tell. Russian is clearly not something he's comfortable with so his word choice may not tell us much. I'd love to have been able to listen to the other end of that conversation. Maybe we should ask for a FISA Warrant for phone taps?"

"I'll do that as soon as we get off the phone."

"Without going into detail, I'd say the Russians are in it strictly for the money."

"I agree."

"The Middle Eastern contacts, which I can't identify from what's here, are clearly driven by their cause. Hopefully, over the next couple of days with phone warrants and more bug data, we'll be able to figure out what they have planned. I'm surprised I didn't hear anything related to Ansari being missing. They are totally quiet about that."

"Yeah, I had the same thought. They know he's alive; I'm pretty sure they supplied the lawyer he used. Maybe Ansari is afraid of what his overseas contacts would do if they knew how badly he's compromised."

"That could be. If so, it works in our favor. Anymore about Ross and his plans?"

"Meeting is still scheduled for this coming Wednesday - apparently this is Ross's perception of the 'fast track'. He's stone walled Burk and Bell. Larson will return today and be brought up to speed by Burk. Apparently Larson is going to be his second-in-command on the team though he's junior to several other agents in the office."

"Okay, well I can't speculate productively about Larson without actual data, and I don't want to be late my first day on the job, so I better slide into my work clothes, stop and pick up a lunch at the Sheetz and get in there."

"Lunch at Sheetz?"

"Yeah. The instructor told me a lot of the construction folks would stop at a Sheetz to get a sub and soft drink for lunch. That's apparently 'the' coffee stop for them as well. Sheetz replaces Starbucks for the construction crowd. Sheetz also has Diesel pumps so they can fill their trucks if they need it. Practically everybody that works heavy equipment drives a Diesel pickup of one sort or another."

"Listen to you. Okay. Have a great day Annie. Love you."

"Love ya right back. Uh ... we still have that noon telecom. Right?"

"Yeah. You better run."

"I'm gone." She ended the call, told the laptop to shut down, and finished getting ready to leave.

07/22/2013


	9. Chapter 9: Dozers and Disagreements

**Chapter 9: Dozer's and Disagreements**

**7:00 a.m. Monday, Day 15: Construction Site.**

As she tooled her pickup through traffic on the way to the site, Annie reviewed the situation in her head. She had everything she needed - the thin wallet in her back pocket had her all her identification package with the Betty Lou Tarantino name and NOC apartment address. It held her Pennsylvania driver's license, Pennsylvania concealed carry license, her 3rd degree black belt card, fifty-six bucks in cash, and her all paid up Operating Engineers Union card.

She'd met with the contractor at the gym last Wednesday. He appeared to her to be surprised that she was going to be the one on-site and expressed concern about the union rep. She'd reassured him with her 3rd degree black belt card and her background story about being FBI trained as well. She's sure he's convinced she is an FBI agent and has bought her story about her Dad being in the excavating business in Minnesota. He agreed that he would pass it on to the Site Superintendent so he wouldn't be surprised when she showed up to run the CAT that had been delivered to the site just yesterday, Sunday. He'd also agreed to let her continue her assignment on site if she had to call in sick Wednesday due to other 'obligations' with the FBI.

He'd told her the two other dozer operators were 'good guys'. He had good reports from the Super about them. They didn't hit on the secretary that was on site a couple of times a week, and none of them had a police record. Annie already knew that, of course, having done a background on them as part of her work up, but it was good to have it confirmed. It said something positive about the contractor that he checked on her behalf. She thanked him for the information.

At that moment, it occurred to her that it had been just two weeks since they'd encountered the terrorists at the restaurant. Okay, since she'd killed them. It had been a heck of a two weeks now that she thought about it, and then decided she didn't want to think about it. Hopefully all she had to do was go over Auggie's audio files and watch the site while the FBI did their thing, whatever that turned out to be. She certainly hoped the rest of the FBI part went faster than it had so far. Ross, the 'chosen' task force head, hadn't even managed to have a meeting with his team yet. Climate change moved faster than that guy did. She wasn't all that anxious to meet him, but, if all went on schedule, that would happen day after tomorrow.

Her arrival at the entrance to the parking lot found her in the left turn lane behind a couple of 3/4 ton Ford 4x4 Pickups with the Ford version of the extended cab like her Dodge had. From the size of the exhaust pipe on the one in front of her, it was a Diesel. The fact that she was noticing things like the size of exhaust pipes on pickup trucks caused her to chuckle. As the traffic cleared and they turned into the lot, she figured out that at least one of them had a chip in it because of the puff of black smoke out of the tail pipe. The Dodge was stock as far as she knew.

They ended up parking pretty much side-by-side. The two trucks made it into the lot; she had to hold up for some traffic and then turned in. The drivers, a couple of clean-shaven guys in their late twenties or early thirties, were about to turn and walk toward the site office when they apparently noticed a female in her truck because they stopped dead in their tracks and stared.

She waved, smiled, and parked. Grabbed her hard hat, left her ponytail alone, picked up her gloves, hopped out, and locked the truck. She knew she looked pretty good in jeans, T-shirt, and a denim vest. The guys walked towards her and she said, "Hi guys, I'm Betty Lou, the new dozer operator."

To their credit, they didn't make any smart remarks - although they were apparently surprised. The tall blond one said, "I'm Rob, this is Mike. Betty Lou? You don't sound Southern."

"I'm not. Born and raised in Minnesota."

"We didn't know they were going to hire a new operator. Haven't seen you at the hall or heard of you."

She told them the agreed to cover story, "I was hired by the company owner. Met him at the gym last Saturday. He noticed my CAT T-shirt and wondered if my boyfriend was an operator. I told him I was a heavy equipment operator looking for work. He said he was going to be bringing in a third 53 to clear blast pits because he was on a schedule incentive contract. I've done lots of that in Minnesota."

"There's a third 53 here?"

"I hope so. That's my meal ticket. This is my first job since moving here two weeks ago."

Finally, Mike who had yet to say anything said, "Welcome Betty Lou. As long as you can honcho that machine, we're good. But we better get in there; the Super's a nut about starting on time, or maybe even a bit early."

The small talk continued on the way to the 'shack' as they called the site office. Annie could tell they were feeling her out in an attempt to get their minds around her being there. But it was done politely. Clearly, the fact that she'd been hired by the business owner had made the desired impression. She just hoped she'd be able to carry off the cover when she had to run the machine.

They got to the shack, Rob opened the door for her, and the two men followed her inside. She figured they thought watching her behind in the jeans as she went up the three steps into the trailer was part of their politeness, but she didn't mind. So far, there had been no off-color remarks or locker room humor for which she was thankful.

The Superintendent looked up from a pile of paper work and said, "Good morning. You must be Betty Lou Tarantino, right?"

"Yes."

"I'm Gary Howe."

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Howe."

"Call me Gary. Everybody else does, at least to my face. The boss called me Saturday night and said you'd be here this morning to drive the third 53 he would have delivered Sunday. I see the machine is here. He hired you in the gym?"

"He did."

"How did that go? I mean I know him; he's 60-something."

"We were trading off on the abb machine and got to talking. He noticed my CAT T-shirt had some grease smudges on it and speculated it meant I had a boyfriend who was an operator. I said, no, it was me, not my boyfriend. That got his interest. He gave me a pretty good interview for a boss. I didn't ask, but I wondered if he used to be an operator?"

"Oh yeah. Back in the day of cable operated scrapers and dozer blades. He admits to having run a real steam shovel and a steam drag line once."

"I've never done that. Never even seen one. My Dad's stuff was pretty much all from Big Yellow."

"Your Dad was an operator?"

"Yes. But he owned a small excavating business. I worked for him since I could reach the pedals by sliding the seats all the way forward, which," she chuckled, "I still pretty much do. The old D9's, my Dad had two D9H's, are hard for me. My legs are too short. I can do it, but they wear me out. And they make a heck of a lot of smoke whenever you let off the decelerator."

"Noise too."

"Noise too."

"Okay, enough of the small talk - you've got a 'Card', right?"

She handed it to the superintendent. He took a quick look at it and handed it back. "Looks good to me. We have a union labor stipulation on this contract is why I asked. Since you didn't come through the hall, I figured I better be sure so we didn't have problems. Have you met Gerstwin, the Union Rep?"

"No. My union records would have just been transferred here late last week. He probably doesn't even know I exist. Is that a problem?"

"Not with me, or the Boss, obviously, but the Union Rep is usually pretty territorial about his right to decide who works where. The boss hiring you is legal and falls within the contract the business has with the Union, but sometimes Gerstwin has issues with it."

"Well, I can't do anything about that, and I need this job. Waiting six months for him to notice me at the hall, assuming he ever does, isn't going to pay my bills."

"Rob and Mike here are pretty laid back. You have the card." He looked at the two men and said, "You're good with having Betty Lou on site, right?"

They answered, "Yes." in one voice, and then they all laughed.

Annie said, "Okay, what's the plan of the day?"

The superintendent sat back down in his desk chair, picked up a piece of paper and said, "The track drills are supposed to finish up drilling for the second major excavation. I've applied for a blasting permit for tonight. Hopefully that comes through, but it may be delayed. We've been doing a lot of blasting lately, and it is a big nuisance for the adjacent business."

"Which one?" Annie asked, although she already knew.

"That one down on the other end of the site. That big warehouse, which is not far from where we are blasting, is some sort of import export business. We only blast at night so we inconvenience them the least, and when they had a ship in not too long ago, we held off a day so they could finish unloading it over night."

"Oh, okay. No problem."

"What I'd like you guys to do today," he turned to the crude site map he had on a cork board, "Is to get these areas all cleaned up. I'd like to pile the rock here, and I'll have some trucks coming in to pick up the demolition debris. I'd like to load the trucks here. Betty Lou, your machine has a big material grapple on it; how about you load the debris on the trucks while Rob and Mike get all the loose material gathered up and stacked. That way we'll be ready for cleaning the pit tomorrow if the blasting all goes off on schedule."

"Will you have a rock bucket for my machine for me to use tomorrow? I don't like handling rock with a grapple bucket."

"Don't blame you, and yes, we have the rock bucket on site. The maintenance crew will take care of the change over tonight. Park your machine at the head of the line so they have access to the loader to make the exchange."

"Will do."

"Okay, let me know if there are any problems, and lets get'er done."

On the way out to their machines Annie said, "Thanks for the welcome guys."

"No problem. Mike and I both have sisters. You're safe with us."

"Cool. That must be my machine over there: the one with that friendly-as-a-mugger-in-a-dark alley grapple bucket on it."

Mike laughed and said, "Be careful where you point that thing. It's all over claws and sharp points."

**12:00 Noon, Monday, Day 15: Lunch Time Telephone Meeting.**

The morning went really fast. Annie was busy loading the construction debris on trucks that arrived almost as fast as she could load them. She wished she'd brought a bottle of water with her but figured she'd have to wait until noon. Neither Rob nor Mike took a break so she decided to stay with it.

The headphone set did a nice job of muting the sounds of the CAT, but the communications gear didn't work particularly well. She was careful to talk only when she was headed away from others on site so they wouldn't see her lips move and asked Auggie if he could get her a better set. He agreed to look into it. She said she was going to switch it to radio because the static of the comm. gear was driving her nuts. She said, "Auggie, monitor the channel. If I need you, I'll holler on here first."

She was glad when noon arrived and headed directly to her truck. She planned to eat her sub, take a long drink of water and enjoy another cup of coffee from her thermos during the conference call. As she walked to her truck, Rob called out, "Hey, Betty Lou, want to join us for lunch?"

She answered right back, "Love to, but I'm going to call my boyfriend. He's back in Minnesota for a couple of days, and we need to catch up - noon is about the only time that works."

Rob looked disappointed but said, "No problem. We're back on the clock at twelve forty."

"Twelve forty, got it. Thanks."

On her way to the truck, she thought she might have to have Auggie join her as her 'boyfriend' if this assignment dragged out beyond a few days. At the rate Ross was moving, it could take years. She decided she was good for two weeks, three weeks max, and then they were on their own. But if Auggie was here for the second and third week, that would be good. Heck, if Auggie was here, she might relent and go for an extra month if he didn't go stir crazy.

Once she was in the truck, she took out her Agency phone, opened her small cooler, took out the turkey sub, with extra tomatoes, mayo, peppers, lettuce and onions, and a bottle of Orange Crush. She had her first bite when the phone rang on the encrypted line. She chewed frantically while she tapped the screen to engage the encryption. After a few seconds, she both had the call up and had managed to swallow the too big first bite. It occurred to her that dozer work burned more calories than one might think. She was hungry enough to eat two sandwiches.

With the call up, she plugged in her earphones, stuck them in her ears, and settled in for the meeting. The earphones left her hands free to deal with the sandwich and the drink. No way was she skipping lunch!

Rossabi, who was the nominal host for the call since Ross wasn't on line yet, checked everybody in. Campbell and Anderson in Langley, Burk, Larson, and Bell in the Philadelphia office. Walker in the truck on her cell phone. Annie was last and was addressed as Betty Lou by Rossabi in case anyone else in the Philadelphia office over heard any part of the call. It would be bad enough that they were meeting before the official task force was convened, but at least they wouldn't have a CIA agent in the mix.

Apparently, Larson had been read in by Burk before the meeting, but he apparently felt he had to let Annie know he knew who she was because he gave his name and said, "We've met before."

Annie just replied sweetly, "Hi Agent Larson. Good to have a familiar face on the team. I remember."

Burk, taken aback by this uncalled for comment on Larson's part, took control of the meeting again when she said, "Rossabi, do you want to review the agenda?"

Rossabi jumped right in and said, "Yes. The items I have listed are the bug dump from this morning, updates on what's been learned from Ansari's computer, and whether or not any information related to what we've learned has been turned up by The Agency."

Auggie gave the report on the bug dump with Annie's comments incorporated. He also said they had been hearing some things from Peshawar that indicated the cell was actively recruiting and seeking materials to be smuggled in, but they didn't have specifics yet.

Rossabi said the FBI task force would kick off on schedule Wednesday morning. His tone of voice when he said it reflected disappointment in his agency's performance to date. The CIA had managed to create two NOC's, put an agent in place, bug the warehouse, and decrypt more of the Geek's computer in the same time the FBI had managed to work through its internal politics. Annie heard in his voice that he wasn't very proud of that. She didn't blame him. She found herself almost looking forward to meeting this Agent Ross. Almost being the operative word.

Larson's involvement consisted of him telling them he had been assigned to come up with the plan of action for the team, but that he couldn't share it with them until Ross had approved it. Annie was not whelmed, but didn't say anything. He did ask how things were going in the pick and shovel division in a tone of voice designed to diminish the Agency's contributions.

Annie said nothing. So he said, "Tarantino that would be you."

She replied, "No, it wouldn't. I'm the heavy equipment division."

Burk again came to the rescue by asking, "Agent Tarantino, are you onsite in your cover ID."

Annie answered, "I am. It's all going well. The comm gear leaves something to be desired. The ambient noise in the cab of the machine is higher than we'd anticipated. Tech support is working on an improved version, but it may not be available until late in the week. The short report is that I'm here, on site, but so far I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. I think my best chance to help will come with the bug dumps and correlating that with off shore data that filters in via the daily reports or diplomatic pouches. I can read them in the native language; that sometimes enables learning what's between the lines. I will also be working on the end of the site closest to the target, at least tomorrow, when we clean out a blast trench. I can't see the entrance when I'm in the trench, but where the trucks will stop to get loaded will let me watch on the return leg."

Auggie interrupted to say, "We just got an interesting report in from the Syrian station. I can't go into specifics, but the conclusion I come to from reading it is that the person we call the third man, Khair Assam, is over there as we speak. Indications are he is coming back tomorrow, so we should be on the lookout for a new person or voice showing up on site or on the bug dump."

Annie says, "Guys, I have to go. My lunch break is over in eight minutes, and I need to stop by the outhouse before I get back in that machine."

Rossabi said, "Thanks for participating. We're nearly done. I'll e-mail you with anything that develops the rest of the meeting."

Annie said, "Thanks." and tapped her phone screen to disconnect from the meeting. She thought about what she'd heard for a few seconds and began to intensely regret the fact that Larson knew she was a CIA covert officer. He sounded like too much of a brown nose to be trusted.

**5:00 p.m. Monday, Day 15: Construction Site.**

Annie joined Rob and Mike after they parked their machines, nose to tail, behind hers. The maintenance crews would have easy access to grease and refuel them during the night. She said, "I hope they have time to do the service and change the grapple for the bucket before the blasting crew chases them away."

Rob said, "I think we're good; here they come."

Annie turned to look and sure enough, in came two tri-axle Mack trucks, specially configured as service trucks, with their third axles lifting as they turned into the site. They were festooned with all sorts of machines, tanks, hoses, an engine driven welder, big air compressor, 500-gallon fuel tank, hydraulic crane and tool chests. Annie knew from her training class that those trucks and crews could do about anything that would be needed short of a major rebuild. She saw the one with the bigger hydraulic crane park in front of her machine and relaxed. They might even have the bucket changed before she got back to her apartment.

Annie said, "Hey, Rob. You're right. Looking good." Then she stopped right there because she saw a guy she recognized as the Union Representative, the notorious Gerstwin, getting out of a pickup that was parked between her and her truck. Annie reacted by inserting the earwig that she'd had in her pocket while she still could without attracting attention. She made it seem like she was trying to get something out of her ear and ignored Gerstwin as they approached.

He moved to place his body between the three of them and their trucks. Annie, the trained spy, read him like a book. She didn't like what she saw. He was at least six feet tall, big frame, lots of muscle gone to fat. Big hands and wrists. He had the grizzled but round jowled face and small eyes of a predator. The face wasn't a stranger to punishment - the nose had been broken at least once. The look in his eyes and the expression of anger and contempt on his face told her this was going to get ugly pretty much like Burk's conversation with the owner had indicated it might. His size made it incumbent on her to take him by surprise and do major damage if he made any overt moves, and to take him down really hard, hard enough to break things, if there was a second engagement. She couldn't let him have a third try at her no matter what because by then her skill would no longer be a surprise. She also could not let him get a grip on her with those big hands or it would be over.

As they walked up he said, "Tarantino, what the hell are you doing here. I didn't sign you in through the hall."

"I was hired by the owner. We met in the gym."

"That's bullshit. Nobody works here unless I say so. I'm the Union Rep. People go through me or they don't work, It's in the contract. Period. Hell, I don't even know you. Never seen you before in my life. How the hell do I know a cunt like you is even in the union?"

Annie heard a gasp out of Rob and Mike both when he said the "C" word.

Annie had no trouble staying calm and said, "I was transferred in mid last week from the small local near Tower, Minnesota. It's up near the Canadian border." In fact, Annie knew exactly where the local office was and had seen pictures and videos of both the inside and outside of it.

He said, "Don't give me any crap, bitch. You weren't assigned by me, don't bother showing up tomorrow. I'll take your pay for today since you weren't here. Understand."

Auggie said in her ear, "Got it, Section 2, site access, says you can work on any closed shop job at the invitation of management if you're a paid up member."

"Mr. Gerstwin, you may have forgotten about Section 2, Site access. It says we can work on any closed shop job at the invitation of management if we are paid up members. This is a government contract that only allows union members, so it's a closed shop. I was hired by the owner of the company. I am current with my dues." She held up her card briefly and then pulled it back. "So I'm here legitimately, and I'll be keeping my whole pay check, thank you very much."

He said, "I don't give a shit about that stuff. I say who works and who doesn't. I promise it will be a cold day in hell before you ever work in Philly. Your card. Give it to me or I'll take it, and you might not like how I do that."

Auggie, in her ear said, "You only have to show it to him. You do not have to hand it to him. I am quoting Section 4, Paragraph 27 dot 8, of the Union Agreement."

She replied, "I showed it to you, in accordance with Section 4, Paragraph 27 dot 8, of the Union Agreement. That's all I have to do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll head home. We need to start early tomorrow."

She started to move around him. He moved to position himself between her and her truck, "Again, give it to me, or I'll take it away."

Annie could feel the adrenaline kicking in. She studied him like Auggie'd taught her. Being able to take him wasn't a sure thing by any means. She avoided meeting his eyes, which would openly challenge him in a way that might give her away. Street fighters, those that survived, were usually good at reading eyes. He had to think she was a tiny defenseless girl if she was to prevail.

She continued her physical assessment. This guy was huge, and rough. But the way he moved sideways to get in front of her suggested a hip or knee problem on his left side. She could see he tended to lead his movement with his left hand, but she felt sure he was right handed because he had a watch on his left wrist. Recent right side injury perhaps? She decided to try for more right side injury if she got the chance. Some of the scars on his face and hands looked recent. Perhaps he was slowing down or had poor defensive skills but could take a punch? Her study was intensely focused because when the assailant has a foot of reach and almost 200 pounds on you, the issue is always in doubt - she had to get close, right in the danger zone to hurt him, but avoid him getting a hold of her with those big hands or she would wake up in the hospital.

Her study took less than two seconds, and was done instinctively. Caution said back down, but that wasn't an option. She put the card in her back pocket and stepped back, slightly to his left, just enough so she judged that he would have to lunge slightly off balance on his weak side to get to her but not far enough that he would take a compensatory step towards her before he attacked, and said, "Please leave me alone. I'm tired. I just want to go home."

He went for surprise when he suddenly lunged forward to grab her. She anticipated the movement by watching his eyes that gave her just barely enough advantage to use his momentum and poor balance against him and put him on the ground, face down, with her foot on his neck and his right arm levered painfully up behind him. His left hand beat ineffectually on the ground and his legs thrashed but there was no way he could stand the pain to make an effort to actually get up.

She had his wrist bent to the point the pain had to be excruciating, and there was at least a chance his elbow might break and shoulder dislocate if she increased the pressure with her knee. She implemented her plan to do damage and wrenched hard on his shoulder. She heard some snapping and popping sounds, accompanied by a muffled scream into the dirt from him. She hoped it signaled she'd done some damage that might at least slow him down if he tried again.

She said calmly but with a tone that was sure to provoke him if only because she was a women and had him on the ground in front of two other union members, "Mr. Gerstwin, please leave me alone. I'm going to warn you exactly once, and this was it. Never try to lay a hand on me again, or I will make sure you regret it for the rest of your life. Are we clear?"

"Fuck you."

Annie wrenched hard on his shoulder hearing more crunching noises punctuated by cries of pain from Gerstwin. That seemed to have the desired effect, but she wouldn't bet on it. She hoped it wasn't quite dislocated - she wanted to finish this now while she had what little advantage she'd earned so far. With that goal in mind, she waited until his struggles subsided a little then said, "That's better. Instead of having Rob call nine one one, I'm going to let you go now." She let him go and easily avoided his immediate attempt to trip her or grab her. It was pretty clear from how he held his right arm near his side that she'd damaged the shoulder of his dominant arm.

She said to the other two, very calmly, but with her gaze still focused on the Union Rep who had moved toward a piece of rebar that was lying on the ground, "You guys might want to step back. Apparently he's going to try again. He's big enough that I'm going to have to hurt him pretty bad because he's way too big and strong for me to fight in close. I can't afford to let him get a hold of me."

They'd apparently seen the Union Rep pick up the piece of rebar, because, when she took a quick glance in their direction, they looked at each other then back at her with fear on their faces. She anticipated their concern and, focused back on Gerstwin, saw he'd picked up the bar with his left hand, and said, "Don't get in this guys. It's not your fight. I grew up with this. I can handle it." They must have heard her because they stood back when the big guy came at her again. Except this time he clearly intended to use the short piece of rebar he'd found lying on the ground as a weapon to maim or kill her. Her advantage was that he'd have to use it in his left hand, which meant his vulnerability was his right side. She moved sideways to force a back handed swing with the result that he took a big awkward left-handed swing as he lumbered toward her.

She saw it coming before it started. As a result, she ghosted under the back handed blow, which was, as far as she was concerned, really slow and came up beside him on his damaged right side. She used his momentum combined with an arm bar on his damaged arm to keep him off balance. A split second later, she had taken both his knees out with two forceful close range sidekicks that would probably leave him crippled pretty much for life. He collapsed to the ground in obvious agony cursing a blue streak, the piece of rebar forgotten. The fight was over.

It was pretty clear to Annie he couldn't get up, at least not until his knees had been surgically repaired, and maybe not then. His face was blanched white from the onset of what she hoped was shock and not a heart attack. If he wasn't dead, there would be no front page story that would risk her cover. She was pretty sure the liberal media wouldn't want a lot of airtime for failed union brutality, especially big-man-loses-to-small-female, but she decided to call it in to both 911 and Langley.

Annie looked at Rob and Mike and said, "You two stay right there while I call nine one one - I need you two for witnesses. But don't get close to him. He's still dangerous." Then she took out her phone, moved a short distance away so she could hear over his cursing, called 911, and said, "My name is Betty Lou Tarantino. I was just assaulted by a man with a weapon. I had to defend myself from death or grievous bodily injury. ... You can get my location from this phone's GPS, I'm not sure of the address. ... Yeah, the construction site. ... The assailant was the Operating Engineers Union Representative. ... Yes, his name is Gerstwin. He is on the ground and can't get up. ... What? ... I don't know how bad he's injured. ... No, he just attacked me with an iron rod, and I'm not getting close enough for him to grab me either. Please send cops and paramedics with an ambulance. ... Only one. I'm fine. No, I'm not armed. ... Just tell the responding officers the fight is over. ... Yes, I'll wait here, but I'm going to hang up so I have both hands free in case he attacks again."

She ended the 911 call, called the response desk at Langley, coded in, gave them a quick status, told them not to call back, and ended the call. When that was done, she walked back around Gerstwin's truck, looked at Rob and Mike, who were still speechless, and said, "I need the two of you to tell the responding officers the truth. Tell them exactly what you saw and heard." Annie hoped the look in her eyes, together with Gerstwin's reputation and what they just saw her do to him, had earned their support. That support became evident and the tension lessened when they nodded agreement. She said, "Thanks. Not to worry, I have a cousin where he needs to be. I'll cover you with the union."

It occurred to her she needed to get rid of her gun before the cops arrived to avoid blowing her cover and making the situation more complicated, so she said, "I need to go to my truck for a moment, I'll be right back. Do not get within five feet of him or talk to him. Got it?" They both nodded.

She unlocked her truck on the side that placed it between her and Rob and Mike. Then she put her gun in the center console next to her FBI credentials and threw her holster in the back seat on the floor. With that done, she opened a bottle of water and took a long drink before she recapped it and returned to stand near Rob and Mike.

She'd just gotten back to them when she saw the first of what would turn out to be three police cars come bouncing into the lot and skid to a stop.

She said, "Guys, keep your hands empty and in plain sight. Don't give these cops any excuse to go off on us. Okay?"

"Definitely." said Rob. Mike, as usual, said nothing, but he did nod to indicate compliance.

They stood there while the three officers gathered and then approached them. They were in the open, Stood with non-threatening postures, hands in plain sight, so the officers didn't draw their guns, though they had their hands on them. When they got close enough one of the officers said, "That's Gerstwin on the ground. Which of you two guys is Tarantino?"

* * *

**EN:** Well, what did you think of this chapter? I thought it was time for Annie to kick a little a**, and she certainly did. You agree?


	10. Chapter 10: I Am

**Chapter 10: I am.**

**5:04 p.m. Monday, Day 15: Construction Site Parking Lot**

_Previously:_

_They stood there while the three officers gathered and then approached them. They were in the open, Stood with non-threatening postures, hands in plain sight, so the officers didn't draw their guns, though they had their hands on them. When they got close enough one of the officers said, "That's Gerstwin on the ground. Which one of you two guys is Tarantino?"_

* * *

Annie said, "I am."

"What? You?" the lead officer asked somewhat incredulously.

"Yes. May I get my driver's license out of my wallet and show you?"

By then one of the other officers was down by Gerstwin and said, "I think his knees are broken. He may have a dislocated right shoulder. Are the paramedic's on the way? Who did this to him?"

Annie said, "I did. He attacked me with that piece of rebar that's lying on the ground right over there. I was in fear for my life or grievous injury, so I defended myself."

"What did you hit him with?"

"My foot."

"Geezus, he's all torn up. Are you a martial arts expert or something?"

"Yes. Third degree black belt in free fighting. I have my card in my pocket along with my driver's license. May I take it out?"

The first officer noted how calm and relaxed she and the other two were and said, "Yeah. I'd like to see all of your driver's licenses, or at least some ID, before we go any farther with this."

They all took them out and handed them over. The third officer came forward in response to a gesture from the first, took them, and returned to his car, presumably to call them in. Annie heard a siren getting louder, then saw the paramedic truck coming and said, "I think that's the paramedics I asked for." Just as the officers turned to look, the siren shut down and the ambulance turned into the parking lot. The driver, alerted by the first officer waving, drove over near where Gerstwin was lying.

The first officer said, "What happened?"

Annie said, "My co-workers and I were leaving the site after a long day of work. We're all members of the Operating Engineers Union. He's the Union Rep. I was hired by the owner of the business when I met him at the gym last weekend. The Union Rep. was all upset by that. I'm new here, just transferred in from northern Minnesota. Mr. Gerstwin told me I was fired, that he wanted my pay for today and asked for my Union Card. He was wrong to do that. The contract clearly says management can hire any paid up union member if it's a closed shop. What he was doing was unlawful intimidation, attempted extortion, and when he tried to hit me with that rebar, assault with a deadly weapon. When he came at me with that piece of rebar, a lethal weapon, it was attempted murder. Because he came here in search of me, it should be first degree attempted murder, at a minimum second degree."

The officer said, "I get all that. What has me confused is, normally, when he's involved, we have the busted up Union Member on the ground and Mr. Gerstwin nodding while they tell us they stumbled and decline to press charges. What did you do?"

"When he attacked the first time, I took him down and restrained him on the ground. Right there. You will see the dirt on the front of his shirt and maybe on his face. He kept trying to get up, and I think he hurt his shoulder. I told him to leave me alone. I also warned him if he came after me again I'd probably have to hurt him badly because he was too big for me to fight. The man is at least three hundred pounds. I'm a hundred and fifteen pounds. The disparity of force is obvious."

The officer shook his head. Then he looked at the other two, pointed at Mike, and said, "What happened?"

Mike replied, "Exactly what she said. He attacked, I thought she was going to be squashed, and then she had him on the ground. I heard her tell him exactly what she just told you she said, and then she let him get up. We saw him pick up the rebar, but she told us not to get involved, that it wasn't our fight. She seemed to be able to hold her own, so we didn't. He went over there, picked up that piece of rebar and came right back at her with it. He took a wild left-handed swing. I thought she was going to die. She just ducked that swing and smashed his knees with a pair of sidekicks so fast I almost didn't see them. Then he was on the ground. Game over. The whole fight didn't last half a minute."

The officer turned to Rob and said, "And you, what did you see?"

"Exactly what he said."

The officer turned to the paramedics and said, "What's his condition?"

"He's got two knees that were broken sideways and a dislocated right shoulder. I'm no ME, but his injuries are consistent with her story."

Just then, the third officer returned and handed the licenses to the first officer. When queried by a look, he said, "All clean. No wants, no warrants. Not even a parking ticket on any of them. She and the blond guy both have a concealed carry license."

The first officer turned toward Rob and Annie and said, "Are you packing?"

"No. I don't carry it at work - no fun driving a bulldozer with a pistol poking you in the kidney," Annie said.

"Same here," said Rob.

The officer looked at both of them for a couple of seconds, then said, "Makes sense to me."

After that, it took a while for them to give the officer their official statements. After he called it in, and their patrol lieutenant stopped by to quiz Annie briefly, they were free to go. The lieutenant asked if Annie would be able to stop by the station to file charges, and she said she absolutely would but would tomorrow be okay? The lieutenant agreed it was. The Union Rep had long since been taken to the hospital. Something about the lieutenant's manner caused Annie to think he might know she was an FBI agent under cover. He didn't say anything, but she was fairly sure he knew that and thought Burk might be behind it.

Rob and Mike stayed until it was all over, apparently unwilling to leave her alone with the situation. She was glad for their company. When it was time for them to leave, they offered to buy her a drink. She said, "Guys, I'd love to, but I have a phone call I'm supposed to have made already, and people will wonder where I am. Maybe later in the week?"

She thought they actually looked a bit relieved by her answer, and Rob said, "Later in the week works for me. Uh, Tarantino?"

"Yeah?"

"You busted his ass."

"I did. Just to be perfectly clear, I'd do it again. Do you have a problem with that?"

She watched him intently and relaxed when he replied, "Hell no. He's had that coming for a long time. I've seen him bust people up pretty good. I think it was payback time."

"What he said goes for me," Mike added.

"We're good?"

They both replied, "We're good."

"Thanks for the support guys. See ya tomorrow?"

"Definitely. But if you don't mind, we'll walk you to your truck just to prove chivalry isn't dead yet."

"Yeah," Mike said, clearly amused by the thought, "We're parked right next to her. She can protect us." And they all laughed.

As far as Annie was concerned, it'd been a good day. She had two allies in her co-workers, and the union rep problem was behind her. She was on a first name basis with the Site Superintendent. And, most important, they didn't have a clue she was brand new to the CAT 953 B track loader. In other words, she was 'in'. And that felt pretty darn good.

**8:00 p.m. Monday, Day 15: Betty Lou's Philadelphia Apartment.**

She went to an Arby's drive through on the way to her apartment and picked up a turkey sandwich. As soon as she returned to her apartment and confirmed from the tell-tales it was undisturbed, she locked the door and moved into the bathroom where she turned on the faucet in the sink to provide some cover noise. After that, she inserted the earphone buds into her ears, plugged them into her Company iPhone and initiated her agreed upon encrypted daily check in call. She knew Auggie would have been alerted by her call to Langley and would probably have alerted Burk. She also knew he'd heard the whole thing via the earwig.

She saw the code that indicated they'd picked up and a few seconds later heard the encrypted version of Auggie's voice say, "Annie, are you okay?"

"Yes, Auggie. I'm just fine."

Burk interjected, "Did a lieutenant show up?"

"Yes. He seemed satisfied, asked me to come in tomorrow sometime to file charges. Megan, did you send him?"

"Yes, I thought you might figure that out."

"I didn't know for sure, but I suspected. Thanks for having my six."

"No problem. The lieutenant knows you are FBI undercover. I've worked with him before; he's one of the good guys. I just wanted to make sure nothing got off kilter due to an overzealous officer or two. The Philly police can go all agro if someone is found with a gun, permit or not."

"I stowed the gun in my truck before the cops got there. They found my Pennsylvania permit when they ran my license, but the Glock was in the truck. Nobody knows I had it with me. I handled the situation without it."

"Yeah, you did. Gerstwin's in the hospital, maybe the ER as we speak, with two smashed knees and a trashed shoulder."

"He's alive."

"He's alive. I'm beginning to think he should count his blessings. You had two witnesses?"

"Yeah, co-workers Rob Nickels and Mike Warren."

"You and they on the same page?"

"Oh yeah. They backed me up with the cops. Offered to take me out for a beer. I declined. One of them offered to walk me to my truck. The other joked that I could protect them because we were parked next to each other. We're good."

Then Burk said, "Auggie, you have any questions?"

"None right now." Annie knew she'd get a call from Auggie as soon as this call was over. She was looking forward to it.

To make that happen sooner she said, "Today went well on the job. The short report is I'm 'in' with my co-workers both as a dozer driver and as a co-worker. They haven't asked any questions that indicate even a hint of suspicion that I'm not what I'm supposed to be. The actual job, driving the dozer, wasn't hard at all. The instructor at the school had learned, somehow, that the new dozer had a grapple bucket on it, so he gave me a couple of hours of familiarization with it Sunday afternoon. Came in handy. There are some tricks that go with loading it.

"I actually had some fun. It's not something I'd want to do for a living, but for now, it's the most fun stake out I've ever done. That said, I didn't see anything on the target site that I think was significant. Any update from the Geek, or the Geek's computer, or signs of progress from anyplace?"

Burk said, "Auggie, you want to go first?"

"Sure. Annie, the bug dump today yielded nothing new: no clues about future cell plans or material acquisitions. I think most of the conversations we want to hear are being held under ground. Jo has been watching people go in and out. There are four or five people that go in there every day that we can't account for on the bugs during the day. So we hypothesize they are in the underground additions. The phone taps haven't yielded anything new either.

"We do have some clues from reports out of Peshawar that something big is planned to happen, but no schedule. There are indications, based on the locations of the conversations over heard and the speakers, that it's connected with the Philadelphia cell. That said, if we didn't know about that particular cell, we wouldn't hypothesize its existence from what we are hearing in the office and on the phone taps. We'd just know there was a cell that was active someplace in the north east, maybe near the coast."

Annie said, "Let me think." Auggie and Burk were quiet. Then Annie said, "I don't see any practical way to go in and bug the underground part of that facility even if there is a mandatory blast evacuation, which there will be tonight. I expect to be cleaning blast rubble out of a pit all day tomorrow. The pit is very close to the target warehouse end of the site. Hopefully we finish that pit before Wednesday, for if we don't, I won't be popular for calling in sick. ... Anything else? Anything from the Geek's computer?"

Auggie answered, "Stu hasn't gotten into any more files. Megan, any progress on your end?"

"Nothing. Rossabi was totally silent on the subject and said no progress when I asked. I sometimes wonder if Ross is waiting to spring that on the meeting as part of his kickoff - to look like he's in charge. Ross doesn't know about the bugs you planted, Annie. Rossabi wants it to look like the Director ordered that to happen to give Ross a heads up."

"Annie, one more thing, Rossabi wants you to call him tomorrow. He wants to do a phone intro with you to the Director's personal assistant and his administrative assistant. He thinks it's a good idea to have a backup plan for you to call the Director's office right in the meeting if Ross goes off on you. That needs to be orchestrated in advance. He has the Director's permission to do it."

Annie thought about it for a few seconds and replied, "That sounds like a really good idea to me. Is Rossabi taking care of getting it all set up?"

"Yes. He said he's given the Director enough that, with your ability to improvise, the two of you can pull this off, no problem. But it all depends on the two gate keepers letting you in, so he wants to make sure you have met them on the phone."

"Cool. I'll call him tomorrow. But right now I'm exhausted. Can we call it a day? Five a.m. is going to arrive right on time."

Megan said, "I'll drop off here and leave you two to say good night. Have a good day tomorrow Annie, Auggie."

"Thanks, I will." Annie replied, and then she saw the indication that Burk's phone had dropped off the call and said, "Hey, Auggie."

"Annie, are you really okay? I looked up this animal, Gerstwin, and he's trouble with a capital 'T'. He's been in all sort of scrapes, but ends up never being charged by anybody. He's six foot one, about three hundred pounds. He has at least a foot of reach and nearly two hundred pounds on you."

"True, but it wasn't that bad. He's closing in on a hard-lived fifty-something, had previous injuries that make him favor his left hip. I was able to make him come at me, so I could pretty much take his right arm out of commission. I had him on the ground and reefed on it as hard as I could, twice. It made crunching and popping noises. I think I did some damage in there."

"You dislocated it, tore his rotator cuff, and messed up some cartilage according to the report that came in about two minutes ago. Apparently the that lieutenant source of Burk's got a report to her from the OR."

"That explains why he had the piece of rebar in his left hand when he decided to come at me a second time. Trust me on this, he's not ambidextrous. I was able to make him take a clumsy backhand swing at me that he missed big time. That put me right next to his undefended right side so I used his arm against him and took out both his knees with the sidekicks you taught me. He isn't going to bother anybody for a while, or maybe ever."

"He has a deputy. The deputy is apparently a lot less physical. He doesn't have any complaints for battery, or even any parking tickets. My guess is he will make a call on you tomorrow, maybe when you arrive for work, to get a statement. Don't go anyplace with him, and you should be fine."

"Got it. Auggie, I miss ya."

"Miss you too. You ready to have a snack and hit the sack?"

"You forgot the bath. Got to have a bath first."

Auggie laughed and said, "Love you, Annie Walker. Have a good night."

"Love you too. Regular morning just-us check in, 5:00 a.m.?"

"Yeah. I need to get some sleep. At least I'm staying here at Langley, so I don't have far to go. Good night, Annie."

"Night, Auggie." The call ended.

**6:45 a.m. Tuesday, Day 16: Betty Lou's Philadelphia Apartment.**

Her personal check-in with Auggie and the encrypted official call out of the way, Annie had gotten herself to the job site with a real Subway sandwich for lunch. She'd eaten a breakfast wrap while she was there.

She knew from her phone conversation this morning that the Deputy Union Rep drove a candy apple red, tricked out, short bed Ford 2500 Power Stroke Crew Cab. She saw the truck; it hadn't been there yesterday, so he was presumably on site somewhere. She ended up parked two up from that red Ford.

She was pretty sure his presence was because of the altercation she'd had with his boss the day before. She put on her hard hat and OSHA approved safety sunglasses before getting out of the truck. Then she shifted her noise canceling earphones to hold them in both hands and slid them onto her hard hat so she had her hands free, just in case. She'd turned them on so Auggie would be able to hear what was said if he was in the office. She opened her small cooler, retrieved a bottle of water and left the cooler in the truck. She stepped out of the truck, locked it and snapped her keys onto a belt loop. She was happy the weather justified a sweatshirt, so she had on a nice, worn, sun-bleached CAT sweatshirt that concealed her Glock 26. She had the gun at 3:00 on her right hip in her custom Milt Sparks holster. A spare clip was riding outside the waistband on the other side. There was no way she was riding that dozer all day with that gun digging into her kidney. She had the Pennsylvania permit in Betty Lou's name with the NOC address in her wallet just behind her driver's license. Her FBI credentials were in the console of her truck in an envelope.

She spotted the Deputy Union Rep. He had been close to the shack, but, as she expected, he turned to intercept her as she headed toward the Site Superintendant's portable office building.

When she was within earshot he said, "Ms. Tarantino, I'm Derrick Johnson, the Deputy Union Representative. I need a few minutes of your time."

Annie turned to him and said, "Good morning to you too, Mr. Johnson. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

He ignored her question and said, "What happened here last night? My boss is in the hospital recovering from surgery on both his knees and one shoulder. The police report says he attacked you and was injured when you defended yourself. It also says that no charges against you will be filed because you acted in self-defense. It says a long list of very serious charges will be filed against him by you. Am I to believe a little squirt like you did that to him all by yourself?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, you better believe I did that to him. He attacked me. Twice. Once with a lethal weapon. That guy is huge. A damn man mountain. I, as you said, am just a little squirt. I was in fear of my life or grievous physical injury, so I defended myself. It's all in the police report. You read it, right?"

"Yes, but I'd like to hear it from you. So how about you come with me to my office and tell me what happened?"

She turned, was relieved that she saw Rob and Mike approaching, turned back and said, "I'm not willingly going any place with you. We'll talk right here, in the open, in the morning sun, or we won't talk at all. Period. I've already been assaulted by your boss, who is nothing but a thug. I don't trust you. I'm not going anyplace with you. If you don't believe the police report, you won't believe me anyway, so why don't you ask them?" She pointed to Rob and Mike, "They were standing right there and saw the whole thing."

Before he could answer, she turned in the direction of Rob and Mike, got their attention, waved them over, and said, "Hey, guys, got a minute?"

Rob answered, "Sure, whatcha need Betty Lou?"

"Mr. Johnson here doesn't believe the police report about that thug Gerstwin attacking me. Needs to hear it from somebody else. You willing to tell him what you saw and heard last night?"

"Sure."

Rob and Mike altered course, stopped and took up protective positions on each side of Annie. She could see that wasn't lost on Mr. Johnson and silently thanked them. Johnson might not have a record, but he looked leaner, harder - like he'd be a lot tougher to take than Gerstwin had been. And there would be no surprise.

Rob said, "Good morning, Mr. Johnson."

"Tell me what happened last night."

"Gerstwin told her that since he hadn't assigned her to the job, she had to give him all her pay and that she was fired. She quoted the contract paragraph and told him he was lying, twice. Then he tried to take her union card away from her. She showed it to him but wouldn't let him hold it. When she put it back in her pocket he grabbed at her. She put him on the ground. Told him to relax. Told him to leave her alone. Then she let him get up."

"Let him get up? Gerstwin?"

Mike said, "Derrick, she had Gerstwin helpless on the ground. I think he hurt his shoulder trying to get away from her. He went no place till she let him get up."

"So then what happened?"

Rob continued, "After she let him get up, he grabbed a piece of rebar, the cops took it with them, and attacked her with it. That's when she took him down by breaking his knees."

Johnson turned to her and said, with some heat, "Why did you have to break his knees?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Fuck no, I'm not kidding. I'm thinking of pressing charges for excessive force."

"Good luck with that. He weighs close to three times what I weigh and has a foot of reach on me. He attacked me with a lethal weapon. The disparity of force and lethal nature of his attack made it necessary to be sure he couldn't continue to attack me. This was his second attempt. I wasn't sure I could survive a third, so I did what I could to prevent him from attacking me again. My options were limited."

"So you put him on a walker for months, or maybe the rest of his life? You think that's fair?"

"Fair? You are worried about _me_ being fair? I'll tell you what isn't fair. A three hundred pound man attacking a hundred-fifteen pound woman with an iron bar isn't fair. You do that, you got no complaint coming if the woman is lucky enough to take you down."

She could see she'd made her point.

Mr. Johnson's response was to say, "You expect me to believe she," he jabbed his finger at Annie, "took Gerstwin down and put him in the hospital? With no help?"

Rob looked at Annie, his face showed a little fear which had to be evident to Johnson and said, "Yes sir. That's exactly what she did. The first time she got him on the ground she had him in some sort of restraining hold and told him to leave her alone. Then she let him get back up. He'd gotten a bit dirty off the parking lot, but he wasn't hurt. He grabbed a piece of rebar from that pile there and came at her with it ... I thought he was going to kill her, but then she dodged his blow and took out both his knees. He was on the ground before we could even react. The whole fight didn't last half a minute." He looked in Annie's direction and added, "No offense, Betty Lou, but you are one seriously badass ninja chick ... uh ... woman."

There was a flicker of a smile in the corner of her mouth when she replied, "Why thank you, Rob." Then she turned to Johnson and said, "We done here? The three of us need to get those machines fired up and working. We have a lot to get done. This is an incentive contract, and the boss is going to be all over us if we aren't in there pretty damn soon."

"I ... uh ... I need to see your Union Card paid up in good standing."

"You really want to go there? Okay, I'll show it to you, but don't reach for it with anything you aren't willing to lose. I need this job. Put your hands in your back pockets."

He did. She held it up; he looked at it. Annie could tell he wanted to grab it, but apparently the look on her face suggested that would be a big mistake, so he said, "Looks current. You should probably get to work." He turned and walked towards what she knew was his truck.

Rob and Mike were still standing there looking at her when Annie turned back. She said, "Thanks guys." They nodded in acknowledgement of their moment of solidarity and, as one, the three turned and headed for the site office to get their assignments. Rob said, "Betty Lou, where did you learn to fight like that? Really? I've never seen anyone, man or woman, take down a big guy like you did last night."

"Three older brothers and defending my virtue on the job for ten years. For some reason guys are under the delusion that a skinny blond has to be a helpless ditz. They always underestimate me. Big mistake. Huge. Dating and training with an ex-Special Forces guy for three years didn't hurt either."

"You still dating him?" Mike asked.

"Oh, yeah."

Annie saw Rob and Mike exchange looks and nod to each other like they'd sort of guessed what she'd just told them. Mike said, "Good for you. I wish my sister had your attitude."

When they arrived at the shack, Rob held the door for her, so she entered ahead of them. The site superintendant looked up at the three of them, nodded out the window at the departing pickup that had the Deputy Union Representative in it and said, "What was that all about?"

Annie took a step forward and went over her story once again, and Rob and Mike backed her up.

When they were done, the superintendent looked at her and said, "Betty Lou, who are you? The Incredible Hulk?"

Annie slid her slim wallet out of her back pocket, pulled out her Third Degree Black Belt card and showed it to the Superintendent. "This is the only one I have with me, but I'm a Master at Krav Maga as well."

Apparently, the normally silent Mike couldn't take it any longer. Before she could reply, he took a half-step forward and said, "Gary, don't screw with her. We saw it all. He asked for everything he got. She took him down twice. The second time he came at her with a two foot chunk of half inch rebar, and I thought she was dead, but he went to the hospital instead, and she didn't even get her hands dirty. Believe me she's a mugger's worst nightmare." Then he looked at Annie and added with unexpected insight, "The way you walk. The way you move. The way you stand there, all balanced on your feet, this isn't your first rodeo. You could have hurt him worse, much worse, couldn't you?"

"Yes,"

The superintendent looked at her for a few thoughtful seconds after she gave that one word answer, then smiled, stood, and she knew it would be all right when he said, "Just my luck. The one day I leave early the MMA holds a mixed martial arts event in the parking lot. Good for you. Gerstwin's had that coming for a decade. If you can do it, without putting me in the hospital, how about a high-five?"

Annie grinned, and they did a perfect high five that left both their hands stinging if the grimace on Gary's face was any clue.

The super grinned at all of them and said, "I have to tell the boss so he can fend off any complaints by the union officials, but I don't see a problem if the police don't. So, now that that's out of the way I need you guys to clean out that newest blast pit. The track drills finished the second half of the pit late yesterday afternoon while you were finishing up that first pit, so we had the blasting company in here again last night. They set it off about 3:00 a.m. From what I can see, and the depth of the holes their log shows, it should have pretty much pulverized the rock down to a depth of twenty feet or so. I don't want to pay delivery charges again, so I need that hole cleaned out before the last track drill leaves in case we need to touch it up and blast again. We have a dozen rock trucks scheduled to start in an hour or so. They will haul it away as fast as you can get it out of the hole. I'm going to need all three of you to keep up with the trucks - they only have a ten mile round trip haul to where they can dump."

Rob said, "No problem. Let's go wind 'em up guys."

He hesitated, apparently concerned about the 'guys' remark, then looked at Annie who let him off the hook when she offered another high-five and replied, "Roger that. Just think of me as another one of the guys. I'm totally good with that."

The high-five was a stinging success, so much so the Superintendent grimaced in sympathy. They both laughed. Annie said, "Give me a minute with Gary?"

The other two nodded and went out the door. Annie turned to the Superintendent and said, "I need to go to the station to file charges against Gerstwin. I'll do that at noon so I don't have to take any time off from work. That okay?"

"Sure. What charges?"

"Several including attempted murder."

"Really?"

"Of course. When a three hundred pound man thinks it's okay to attack a hundred-fifteen pound woman with a piece of rebar, he needs to be taken off the street for a long time. That man has been beating people for years and getting away with it. I can make this stick, and I'm damn sure going to do it. If I don't, it will be open season on me, and I'll have to get mean. Don't want that to happen."

"Last night wasn't mean?"

"Last night was a warning. I need to file charges and follow through with testimony in court. I won't allow them to plea bargain down to less than ten years without parole."

"How will you do that?"

"That's for me to know, but, Gary; I can absolutely make it stick."

"That's good to know."

"Yeah, that's the message that I need to get out. Now, Rob or Mike must have started my dozer because I think I hear three machines warming up, I need to get that machine of mine moving, or they'll be all over me about working half a day."

* * *

**EN:** I sure would like to know what you think about the story. Even a brief review is good.


	11. Chapter 11: Ross's Folly

**The Third Man / FW**

16

**Chapter 11: Ross's Folly**

**8:50 a.m. Wednesday, Day 17: Philadelphia FBI Office.**

Dressed in a blue pantsuit and low heels as Supervisory Special Agent Burk had told her would be appropriate for the occasion, Annie Walker, AKA Special Agent Betty Lou Tarantino, walked into the Philadelphia FBI office for only the second time. She displayed her badge as Megan had taught her and felt some relief when she received a nod from the security guard. Without breaking stride, she walked around the metal detector just behind some other agents, and proceeded to Burk's office. Megan stood to greet her, "Hey, Betty Lou, it's been a while. How are you?"

"I'm well. Kind of excited to see how this whole task force thing goes."

"Yeah, we're all excited that one of our own gets to take the lead on something major. You know what this is about?"

"Yes, actually I do, but I'm not supposed to say anything about it. SSAIC Ross is the leader; announcing it is his prerogative."

"I suppose that's a good thing. It keeps the whole thing with a central focus."

Annie rolled her eyes and said, "You know where this Cecil B. De Mille production is being held? I think we ought to be getting in there while we can get a seat. It might be standing room only."

"Everybody will be seated. Jo's saving us seats, between her and Larson, to be sure we are together, but I agree, it's time."

They walked into the room. The long conference table had been prepared for the meeting with more flourish that Annie was used to. There were pads of paper, pens, and a water glass at each seat. Carafes of water formed a perfect line down the middle of the table: one carafe per every four chairs. There were exactly two seats left around the table, the two between Bell and Larson. Megan took the seat next to Larson so that Annie was seated between her and Jo.

Jo smiled at Annie and said, "Some have noticed the new girl in town. The trumpets should sound any moment. Does anybody but us know you will be here?"

"I don't think so. Nobody recognizes me. I've seen some quizzical looks, curiosity mostly, from young males, but so far, nobody has had the courage to ask me who I am and take a chance on offending someone that's connected. This could be interesting." Unbeknownst to the others in the room, while she was talking, Annie removed a tiny spec from a plastic backing and attached it to the underside of the table. She didn't have a lot of hope for that bug; its location sucked, but it might pick up something of interest.

"How is the new construction job going?"

"I haven't had to kick any ass since Monday, if that's what you're wondering."

Jo chuckled and said, "I heard about that. Well done. I was wondering how the machinery operating part was going. I watched you through the binoculars yesterday; it looked like you were having fun juggling rocks out of that big pit."

"Oh, I was. I definitely was. It was like the dance of the lumbering behemoths, but it was fun. The two guys I work closest with have accepted me and tend to shield me from the rest of the workers. My social life is limited to walks from the machines to our trucks and back and to the pair of them watching my mixed martial arts exhibitions. Truth be told, while it's fun, I'm not sure this whole under cover dozer thing is productive enough to be worth all the trouble. I'm not learning much of use to the mission, but I'll have a new trade if the terrorist business goes to heck. I had to call in sick to be here today. Sick on the third day isn't going to be looked on with favor. I told the business owner ahead of time, and he said he'll stop them from hiring a replacement."

"They would do that?"

"Normally, yes. Definitely. I'd be out of a job and back in the waiting line at the union hall. It's a schedule incentive contract. They could have a qualified replacement for me on site out of the hall in twenty minutes if the owner asked for it. As it is, he says we've made enough progress that if I'm only gone for the day, we're still on schedule."

"It ..." Jo started, then stopped, hesitated, and said, "Okay, here comes our esteemed leader. I suspect the receiving line will be up the other side of the table from us. All the power brokers are over there."

Annie had seen him coming down the hall. They hadn't met but she'd seen his file and a picture of him. What she was anticipating, based on his physical stats, was a small, trim man maybe two inches shorter than she was but who probably still outweighed her by fifteen or twenty pounds. Sure enough, she saw him coming and watched him like a hawk using everything she'd been taught at the Farm about reading people. What she saw told her he was narcissistic, quite sold on himself. The way he tended to lift himself up on his toes, and the elevator soles and heels on his shoes, told her he was not happy with how short he was. Bit of a Napoleon complex maybe? Looked like a vulnerable narcissist because of the way he played up. An invulnerable one wouldn't have acted so insecure; he'd be confident he was better than all of them. This guy would lash out in defense of his illusion. He probably had anger management problems. She'd know when he started to talk.

As Jo predicted, Ross worked his way up the other side of the table shaking hands and making small talk - more like a candidate for office, or an actor on the red carpet posing for photo ops, than the commander of an anti-terrorist taskforce. Annie began to be disgusted with herself for agreeing to be a part of this impending travesty of a task force - especially since this guy's actions, namely suppression of the interrogation report, had lead directly to Auggie and her being shot at by a sniper. Annie had worked with Arthur and Rossabi to be sure the way was paved for a call to the FBI Director. If she had to use it, the call was setup to make it look like she had the guy on speed dial. This was plan B in case Agent Ross took umbrage at her presence and, as Annie now thought was inevitable, tried to throw her out. Annie had heard back through Arthur that the FBI Director had seen the video of the restaurant shooting. Arthur also told her that when the FBI Director learned she had been set up in a sniper's sights by Ross's actions he was more than willing to do his part if it was needed. Watching Ross, she was pretty sure he would take her on to assert his authority over the carefully crafted composition of his meeting. She was confident it would happen as soon as he saw her because he wasn't emotionally stable enough enough to consider the consequences if his authority was impugned even a tiny bit.

That suited her just fine. If the guy were a real leader, he'd have had the meeting a week ago and automatically commanded the respect he so badly wanted. As it was, based on her assessment of the atmosphere in the in the room during and after his arrival, he was 'played' up to, but not 'looked' up to, by everyone in the room. Well, maybe Larson was an acolyte of Ross's. She saw that Larson's eyes followed him like he was the Alpha dog, but there was no general feeling of respect in the demeanor of the others present. Annie was pretty sure she had him nailed, but she decided to let him incriminate himself. She didn't think she'd have long to wait.

She was right. Things began to go badly for Ross almost immediately. Clearly basking in his position of power after he arrived at the head of the table, he enjoyed a few pleasantries with the higher-ranking people who naturally sat closer to him. He set his stuff on the table, plastered a self-important smile on his face, and looked around the table at the twenty-two pairs of eyes looking back at him. He scanned around the table, reconnecting with those on the far side first, and Annie thought to herself, _here it comes... wait for it._ She was right; his eyes scanned past her, stopped; his expression changed; his gaze backed up and focused right on her. She gave him her best, pleasant, confident, but not smiling, look right back. He glanced at a piece of paper on the table, then looked back at her and said, "Special Agent Tarantino? I did not invite you to this meeting or to be a part of this task force in any capacity. What are you doing here?"

By pre-arrangement Megan replied, "Agent Ross, this is Special Agent Betty Lou Tarantino. She's an anti-terrorist expert on loan to us from headquarters. She-"

"Supervisory Special Agent Burk, I did not ask you, I asked her. Better yet, I don't care. Agent Tarantino, you are excused. This is a high priority classified project, and we don't need un-vetted strangers on the task force, even if they are FBI Agents."

By this time, everybody in the room was looking at Annie, but, almost surprising to her, she felt no nervousness or uncertainty at all. She had this guy surrounded, and he didn't even know it. Her immediate thought was, _gotcha!_ She replied with professional courtesy in her even tone and movement, "SSAIC Ross, I apologize for the DC office not alerting you about my assignment, but I'm not leaving. I was assigned to this task force by Director Ramsey. I won't leave unless you get him on the speakerphone and I hear him personally tell me to leave. You have an active terrorist cell here in Philadelphia. It's been active for at least five years right under your noses. It sponsored the terrorist attack in Carlisle two weeks ago last Sunday as well as the one the next day south of Carlisle. I'd suggest you focus on that and not on whether or not you invited me. Be glad I'm here to help."

"We handled the attack in Carlisle just fine. We've spent the interim getting ready to investigate this cell and take them down after we coordinate with the CIA to establish their sources. I doubt you have clearance for that, so again, I'll ask you to leave."

"Excuse me, sir, but almost nothing you just said is true. The attack in Carlisle was stopped by the famous, if anonymous, Crazy Blond with a gun. She was a federal agent on vacation who just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. It had nothing to do with any purposeful anti-terrorist act by the FBI or any other federal agency. The fact that it was stopped had nothing to do with you or the Philadelphia office you are in charge of. It was pure dumb luck it was stopped short of a major tragedy. Second, I have a level nine clearance. You, sir, and everyone in this room but me, have a level five. So once again, sir, with all due respect, how about we focus on the cell and your plans to take them down before they visit their violence on more innocent citizens?"

By this time, you could hear the air coming through the ventilation ducts and nothing else. Ross's face was getting redder and redder while Annie sat relaxed. Her expression had grown less pleasant and more focused, but her voice was still at normal conversational levels, even-tempered and supremely confident. Equally important, she had not made a single move that indicated she was about to stand up and leave. She could feel Burk getting tense next to her. This wasn't exactly how it was supposed to go, but, with the contingency plans she had in place, it suited Annie just fine.

"I'm calling security to have them es-"

Annie interrupted him with just enough change in her voice to cause him to stop when she said, "Supervisory Special Agent In Charge Ross, call FBI Director Ramsey, now, or your career will come to an ignominious end in the next minute."

Ross stared at her, his face a mask of hate at this moment. She could see he knew he was being humiliated in public, that it was his own doing, but he said, "I'll do that, and then maybe we can get on with the meeting after you are gone." He paused a second, looked confused and asked, "Anybody have an Agency Directory?"

Annie said, "Don't need it. I'll dial." She leaned forward, pressed the speaker button on the conference phone that was within reach and dialed the director's number, obviously from memory. When the call was answered, she waited for the female on the other end to get through her answering protocol and said, "Hi Clarisse, this is Betty Lou. You are on speaker with a room full of FBI Agents. Is he in?" Annie could see the looks exchanged; eyebrows began to rise. Ross's mouth hung open.

"Hi, Betty Lou; he said you might be calling. He's in the air, but hold on and I'll patch you through to the plane." The phone went on mute for maybe half-a-minute while nobody said a single word, and then another female voice came on with background noise that was at least consistent with being on a plane and said, "Betty Lou, you still there?"

"Hi, Marge, I'm still here. Please tell him he'll be on speaker when he comes on."

"Okay, where are you?"

"I'm trying to keep from being rudely thrown out of Supervisory Special Agent In Charge Ross's Task Force kickoff meeting in Philadelphia."

"Oh, that wouldn't be good. Sorry for the delay. I'll put you right through to Director Ramsey."

After a few clicks, a male voice said, "Good morning, Betty Lou. They know you are the Crazy Blond with a gun yet?" There was a second's delay while the audience processed the greeting, and then a collective gasp from those in the room who 'got it', and they all 'got it'. Ross blanched white.

"No sir, we hadn't made it that far. We might never make it that far; SSAIC Ross has taken issue with my being assigned to his task force and asked me to leave. I told him I'd only do that if you told me to because it was you that directed me to be here."

"No problem, Betty Lou, you did the right thing. Agent Ross, you there?" The fact that his full title hadn't been used was not lost on Ross or anybody else in the room.

Apparently Ross could see how this was going to go tried to make the best of it, but his voice came out as little more than a squeak when he said, "Yes, Director."

"Ross, she's the best we have. She's on the team."

"But-"

"You question my judgment, Agent Ross?"

"N ... n ... no, sir. Never, Sir."

"Good. Betty Lou, I have to run. You have a good day. You need anything, _anything at all_, you give me a call."

"Thank you, sir." The call ended.

Annie turned to Ross and said, "Now that that's settled, I'd suggest we get this meeting started. You may proceed, Agent Ross." The fact that she didn't use his full title wasn't lost on those in the room either.

Out of the corner of her eye, Annie could see Jo turning white and on the other side Burk, shaking with barely contained mirth. Looking around the table, she saw nothing but support and some awe in the eyes of the others at the table, and a few were, just like Burk, barely able to keep from laughing aloud.

Ross tried to take charge of the meeting again and said, "Special Agent Tarantino, you seem to be well known to everybody but me. I've never met or heard of you before, but obviously you have a notable record of accomplishment. You were the Blond with the gun in the Carlisle restaurant?"

"Yes."

"You shot those terrorists?"

"Yes. That's where Supervisory Special Agent Burk and I met. Special Agents Bell, Larson and I met after I killed the third one south of Carlisle the next day."

"That was impressive. Megan, why didn't you tell me you knew she was coming?"

"I didn't know till she walked into my office this morning. I was really glad to see her. I thought you would be too. She has an impressive history."

"Care to share any of it?"

"No. It's not mine to share. Betty Lou, you willing to give us any background."

"I can't share specifics. My assignments have all been pretty highly classified and compartmentalized. Most of them haven't made the papers, and I want to keep it that way. I'm never in the papers, and I won't be in any pictures of this task force either. I've been on extended, undercover, anti-terrorist operations for the last four years - pretty much since I started. My background is languages and terrorism, both domestic and foreign."

"What languages?" Ross asked.

"I have native proficiency in six; I get by in a dozen more-"

Ross gave her an extended sentence in what was obviously college French. Annie replied in fluent, idiomatic French and along the way corrected his pronunciation, grammar, and poor word choice for connotative reasons. The few French speakers in the room gasped.

Ross turned red again but was saved from having to answer when a gentleman across the table said to her in Russian, "I've no doubt you speak Russian. What part of the country is my accent typical of?"

Annie replied in Russian, with the same accent, "North of Moscow. So is your word choice. Your grammar is correct for the area as well. But listening carefully, I bet that isn't the only area you can mimic." Her speech changed, and she continued, "For example, I'd bet you can do the Ural Mountain region as well."

Then, before the Russian-speaking agent could reply, she turned to Ross again and said, "This is enough about me. This meeting is supposed to be about how we are going to take down a terrorist cell that's already committed one violent attack, and so far, I've heard nothing on that topic. After two long weeks of preparation for this big day, I'd hope you have managed to at least have an agenda. I expected there would be one on the table for us. There isn't. You do have one, right?"

"I do, but this may cause a change of plans. We'll take a fifteen-minute recess while I consider how to integrate you into the team. Have some coffee and pastry folks." With that statement, Ross hurried the length of the table, on the far side from Annie, and left the room without another word.

Annie turned to Megan and said, "Megan, he's going to look me up in the personnel database. I wish him luck with that."

Megan laughed and said, "There's nothing there but your name, date of birth and country of citizenship. I know. I looked."

The man on the other side of Jo stood up, stretched, and then said, "Jo, introduce me to your neighbor," loud enough for Annie to hear.

Jo laughed and said, "Really? Okay. Betty Lou, meet Agent Bill Cleary. Bill, meet Agent Betty Lou Tarantino."

By the time that was finished Bill offered Annie his hand, which she accepted. Then he said, "You took our little Napoleon by surprise. He doesn't like surprises. This was the most entertainment we've had in years. Will you be here long? I could sell tickets."

"I'm only here for this taskforce, then I'll be gone like smoke in a high wind."

"What part of the FBI are you assigned to?"

"Anti-terrorism."

"Where do you work?"

"Wherever I'm assigned."

"I'm not going to learn anything, am I? I read eye witness accounts that said the two terrorists in the restaurant were shot in the head."

"They were."

"I also heard they were running at ninety degrees to the shots at distances of about twenty five and fifty feet."

"They were."

"I also heard that seven out of eight rapid fire shots hit some part of the terrorists."

"That's true."

"That is some impressive shooting.

"Thank you."

"How many times did you shoot at the one south of town?"

"Five."

"How many hits?"

"Five."

"How far?"

"My estimate was fifteen yards but it might have been twenty."

"What sort of gun did you do that with?"

"It was my personal Glock 26. Bloody marvelous for quarter second split double taps."

By then Annie could see she had an audience. Another man who'd been following the conversation with some interest said, "I'm surprised you aren't on the Agency shooting team. That's world class shooting. Period. Doing it under the stress of combat takes it to a whole new level."

"Shooting teams and long term undercover assignments are mutually exclusive. Besides, I wouldn't want the publicity. That's not why I'm here."

The man turned red and said, "That would cause a problem. Do you also have martial arts skills?"

"I'm a Krav Maga master and a third degree black belt in free fighting Karate. I'm actually better at that than I am with a gun. I'm seldom able to carry a gun. I just happened to be on vacation in Carlisle when those two decided to attack."

She looked around and said, "What's keeping him? This cell is a serious problem. He needs to call Agent Rossabi in DC. I have some contacts that say they are really worried that the Carlisle attack was just a dress rehearsal for something much bigger. I'm not used to this sort of dog and pony show political BS. It's usually just me, a few other members of my team, and the Director in meetings. My CIA liaison would die laughing at this circus act."

"You have a CIA liaison?" Bill asked.

"Of course. You can't be serious about counter-terrorism without them in your corner. They have resources in places we don't even have places."

Annie glanced in Megan's direction and saw both she and Jo trying hard not to burst out laughing at her shameless plug for her own agency.

Just then, Annie saw Ross return. She could see on his face intense jealousy of the fact that nearly all the attendees of 'his' meeting were in a crowd with 'her' in the middle. She knew the fact that they were hanging on her every word would be a huge blow to his ego. His effort to salvage some semblance of respect was totally transparent when he said, "Okay folks, social hour is over, time to get to work. I'm going to bring SSAIC Rossabi from the DC office into the meeting by phone. He's worked with Agent Tarantino before. He has agreed to help us on the taskforce. He'll be a welcome addition."

Annie said, "He's my boss, Agent Ross. I report to the Director through him."

Just then, the speakerphone rang; Ross answered it and said, "SSAIC Rossabi, you are on speaker."

"Thanks. Can you hear me okay?"

"Yes, perfectly clear."

"Betty Lou?"

"I'm here."

"Good. I have your CIA liaison, who will remain anonymous, on the line with us."

"Thanks. I was hoping you could do that."

Rossabi said, "No problem. Ross, you ready to present your plan?"

"I am. Agent Larson will do the honors."

Larson strutted to the front of the room, obviously impressed with himself, and went through his charts. He started with what had been learned from the Geek's computer. He was presenting it as if he should be given credit for it. Annie didn't say anything.

It was a more or less conventional, if uninspired, plan to do a lot of searching of records. He added that they would also query the NSA database to see if they had any record of overseas phone calls from the warehouse.

One of the agents on the other side of the table, who apparently had little love lost for either Ross or Larson, said, "It's an import export business. Overseas phone calls are what they do. Do we have some basis for discriminating between the calls that are terrorist related and the legitimate business calls?"

Larson looked puzzled, so did Ross.

Annie said, "Agent Larson, you may be able to get NSA to do a pattern search using timing, destination, and proximity to suspected contraband shipments. They have some relatively sophisticated ways of doing that. I can help you with getting it set up if you wish."

Larson looked at Ross, who shook his head, so he replied, "I'll take care of it."

The agent that originally asked the question looked over at Annie, nodded agreement with her, turned back to Larson and said, "I'll take that as a no."

Annie couldn't help herself and chuckled softly. Ross glared at her and said, "You have something to share with the class Agent Tarantino?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. SSAIC Rossabi, do we have permission to share our data?" Annie could see the fact that she used at least the initials of Rossabi's title when she addressed him, but not when she addressed Ross, was not lost on them. Neither was the fact that she was getting away with it.

"We do. None of it's over level five. I have it in front of me, so if you don't mind, I'll present it."

"Please, and thanks."

"Agent Ross, at Special Agent Tarantino's request, based on her review of the data from the terrorist's computer, we obtained a FISA warrant a week ago yesterday. She took advantage of a mandatory evacuation of the terrorist's warehouse last Wednesday evening; they were doing some rock blasting on the adjacent property. She went in herself, bypassed the alarm system, planted bugs in the warehouse, and left undetected. Based on what we learned from the bugs, she recommended I get another FISA warrant to tap the phones in the warehouse as well as all cell phones linked to the owners or any of their employees or family members. We did that. We've also gotten warrants, at her request, to cover video and telephoto still camera surveillance of their site and have been tracking the movements of people in and out. We and the CIA have run facial recognition software on everyone that has gone into or left that warehouse. Through Special Agent Tarantino's CIA liaison, we have names to go with most of the people that go in and out. We have linked them to known and suspected terrorist organizations overseas."

Annie was surprised by quite a bit of this; although she'd known about the warrants. Apparently, Rossabi had some tricks up his sleeve too, but he was using them in support of her, which was only fair since most of the data had undoubtedly come from the CIA, though not, obviously, through Joan or Auggie.

Rossabi continued, "Betty Lou was able to plant bugs in their office as well as general area bugs that cover most of the warehouse. She was also able to determine there are extensive underground modifications to the facility but was not able to get into them because they were alarmed with volumetric protection that couldn't be bypassed in the time available."

Annie saw that Ross was getting redder and redder. She theorized it was because she and Rossabi were stealing his meeting, and, to add insult to injury, they weren't even addressing him by his proper title. People were looking at the speaker when Rossabi was talking and at Betty Lou when she was talking. Ross was forgotten. He might as well not be in the room. That suited Annie just fine too.

Finally Ross couldn't take it any longer and made things worse when he said, "Can we get back on track here?"

Annie said, "But Agent Ross, we are on track. We've bugged the warehouse; we have harvested data from those bugs and gotten phone taps. We have identified people for the task force to apply its manpower to, and have gone a long way towards establishing the discriminators she," she pointed at the woman who had asked about discriminators, "was gifted enough to ask about. With all due respect, sir, if you don't think that's on track, you don't know what the track is."

Burk asked, "Isn't all this information that helped obtain the FISA warrants from the computer that Special Agent Tarantino took into evidence when she took down those two terrorists south of Carlisle?"

Rossabi replied, "Yes, it is."

Agent Cleary said, "Seems we owe Agent Tarantino credit for essentially everything we know about this cell. She's a one-woman task force all by herself. It's clear to me why Director Ramsey wanted her here."

With the unsaid part of that glaringly obvious, Annie could see that Ross was almost out of control. It was obvious to her that he's a total narcissist, a vulnerable narcissist, with an anger management problem. He should have been weeded out long before now. His image in front of the others had taken a truly brutal public beating. He'd been upstaged in every way imaginable just when he was supposed to be in all his glory. She could see signs that he was about to explode. She thought about talking him down and decided against it.

At this point, given that he'd left her vulnerable to a sniper while he plotted to have this worthless meeting, she was just fine with publically humiliating him. It seemed like he'd earned some animosity from Rossabi as well, for at the moment, she and Vincent were doing a heck of a good job of tag teaming Ross and Larson. She decided she needed to throw Larson a bone and said, "Special Agent Larson, how about we get together for a few minutes after this meeting? I'll help you add some depth to your research plan, and together we can turn it into a full-on drill-down with the help of all this manpower Agent Ross has recruited to be on the team. You think that might be useful?"

Larson was a quicker study than Ross was because he swallowed his pride and said, "That would be great. Thanks."

Ross said, "We've made great progress. I need to take a break here and consult with Agent Tarantino. Would you give us a few minutes?"

Then he continued, "Agent Rossabi?"

"Yes."

"I'll put you on mute. We'll probably be back on line in twenty minutes or less."

When she heard that, Annie took advantage of the conversational din and confusion while the others were trying to get to the door and dialed Rossabi's cell. He answered and she said, "Don't say anything. Keep this line open. I want you to listen in on this conversation with Ross. If I'm reading him right, he's about to lose it big time." Then she slipped her phone into her suit jacket pocket."

Ross called to Jo as she was one of the last to leave and said, "Agent Bell, please close the door."

Annie, trained spy that she was, understood exactly what was going on, and most, if not all, of Ross's triggers. He was right on the edge of control. This was to be his big moment, the kick-off to the career enhancing taskforce that would get him promoted to headquarters where he thought he belonged. Annie's assessment was that he shouldn't even be in charge of the broom closet at the feed store in West loading ramp, Nebraska, at least where terrorists were concerned. It was fine to play politics with workman's comp cases, but with terrorists, it could get somebody killed. Her for example, and she took that personally. So she decided to go on the offensive.

As soon as the door was closed, Annie walked around the end of the table to face him. She purposely stopped right on the edge of his personal space. She positioned herself so he had his back to the door. She started with, "Ross, why are you so hard to help? I worked with my CIA liaison, and we jointly just handed you a legally admissible intelligence coup that puts the task force way ahead of where it would otherwise be. It's easily enough to get warrants to search the warehouse. Certainly way ahead of anything you have managed to accomplish on your own. I'm perfectly willing to have you take credit for it. Yet you go off on me for doing it? I don't understand. This could give us a huge advantage. What _is_ your problem?"

She saw him struggle to maintain control, and with the last of his mental discipline, he managed to growl, "I'm Supervisory Special Agent In Charge Ross to you. I'm in charge of this taskforce. You will give me the respect I deserve and follow my orders."

"Ross, you miss the point, again." She intentionally dropped even the Agent part of his title. " This isn't about you. The objective is to catch and convict terrorists. Besides, respect is earned. You haven't showed me anything that would earn my respect. At this point, I've seen nothing that says to follow your orders would be anything but a huge mistake. What experience do you have with counter terrorism? I've checked your history. There is no record of your name next to anything other than white collar crime and workman's compensation fraud cases."

Ross's answer was to spend several minutes spinning a tale of accomplishment that was obviously a complete fabrication. As he talked, the door at the end of the conference room opened, and because his back was to it, he couldn't see people who filed in, politely silent to avoid interrupting the boss. Bell, Burk, Cleary, and a few others came into the room. Annie was careful not to look at them, or her eye movement would tip Ross off. She felt he was just about to lose it big time. One more little prick and his bubble would burst like a balloon. She could see he actually trembled with rage as he talked, and she looked on with studied, bored, indifference.

Finally, Annie rolled her eyes and said, "Ross, stop making stuff up. That's a complete fabrication. None of that happened. You can't fantasize real terrorists into extinction with fiction. I've given you real data. Why don't you take advantage of it?"

He lost it and shouted, "You impudent little bitch," took a step forward and threw a punch right at Annie's face. Big mistake. Huge. She'd seen it coming for nearly a second and had plenty of time to get ready. She didn't telegraph what was behind him; she just slid under the punch, wrapped him into an arm bar, used his momentum to turn him, and slammed his face into the table with a loud thud. He was stunned, but she held him there.

Then to his total mortification she said, "Special Agents Cleary, Burk and Bell did you see him try to strike me?"

Burk and Cleary, stunned, said, "Yes, I did."

"So did I," said Larson. The other two just nodded.

When he heard their voices and knew he was busted, Ross struggled to get up, but Annie effortlessly held his face on the table. She noted he was grimacing in pain and said, in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "Supervisory Special _Agent In Charge_ Ross, I know you know that was a mistake. I'm sure you regret it. If I let you go are you going to behave yourself?"

He growled but managed to say, "Yes."

Annie said, "Are you going to apologize?"

He said "Yes."

By now, the room was crowded so she said, "Let's hear it."

"I apologize."

"For What?"

"I apologize for trying to slap you."

"Ross, you didn't try to slap me. You tried to punch me in the face. I could prefer charges against you for assault on a Federal Officer. Want to try that again?"

"I apologize for trying to punch you, now let me go."

"Are you ever going to try that again?"

"No."

"Thank you. Apology accepted. Now I think you need to go clean up a little before you bleed on your suit."

Annie anticipated his sense of balance would be off, so she released him in a way that caused him to stumble. It also allowed her to gracefully back up a step, so that when he reached for her, he went off balance and fell down. She backed away, still out of reach. It made him look even more inept as he scrambled ineffectually to his feet after he tipped over a chair.

"I'm not going to press charges, Ross, but if you do anything like that again, I'll include this time in the list of charges I'll prefer, and my deflection of the attack might not be nearly as gentle." She heard a sharp intake of breath from the spectators when she said 'gentle' but ignored it.

Ross used the napkin he'd held his donut with to catch the blood from his nose, got control of his temper, turned, and said, "I need to take a quick break, and then we can reconvene."

After he left, one of the Agents that Annie had not met said, "Agent Tarantino, you're hands are as fast as a striking snake. Where did you learn to do that?" Annie said, "I told you, I was undercover, long term, anti-terror. I told some here, maybe you didn't hear it, that my hand-to-hand skills were better than my shooting."

The same Agent said, with respect, "Okay. I get it. To summarize for the class: You are world class with languages, a deep cover anti-terrorism expert, a crack combat pistol shot and martial arts expert with CIA connections and the Director on speed dial?"

"Yes."

"Wow. How have I never heard of you?"

"I wish you still hadn't heard of me. This totally sucks. Undercover anti-terrorist agents don't have FaceBook pages or Twitter accounts. We shun publicity and recognition of any sort. This is the first time I've used my real name in three years, and I already regret that. I hate meetings, never mind big meetings, like this catastrophe. They are such useless dog and pony shows. This one's in the contest for worst ever. We got the warrants, planted the bugs, and initiated a whole investigation with like four people who aren't even all in the same agency. It took this clown two weeks to organize this fiasco? I'm not whelmed."

"_That can't be the first time Ross's temper has gotten out of control. How did he get to where he is with a history like that?" _Annie wondered.

Burk was called out of the meeting. A woman came in and cleaned Ross's blood off the table. Burk returned with Ross. The meeting reconvened, and Ross pretended nothing happened.

At Ross' request, Larson presented the rest of his plan for the investigation.

Annie didn't think much of it, but said nothing until he came to the part where he and Bell were going to plant more bugs at the warehouse and, if they could get an additional warrant, at Nassir's house.

Annie asked a few questions and learned that they weren't the burst transmit type she'd planted. She knew they would be detected even before they finished planting them, and even if they weren't detected, they would have an impossibly short useful life because of battery drain. She brought up her concerns, but Larson just said, "We need real time monitoring."

Annie turned to Burk and said, just loud enough for her to hear, "This is like amateur hour. Where did you get this clown? He's going to blow the whole thing on day two if he's lucky, day one if he isn't."

Burk just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Now you know why I asked for your help." At that point Annie thought, _I'm certainly glad I don't work for this outfit._

Annie waited until Larson was finished, then said, "Agent Larson, your plan to bug the warehouse is extremely ill-advised. The warehouse is occupied during the day by the import-export business people. It's occupied at night by the terrorists. You don't fit in with them. We have pictures of them going in and out. Neither of you look anything like them, and you will be discovered if you go in there. In addition to which, they have exactly one female employee, and she works in the office. Special Agent Bell won't make it twenty yards inside that facility without being captured. Finally, even if you succeeded in planting the bugs, the type you are talking about have a battery life of two days and will be detected if they use even the most primitive sweep gear. If they detect a bug, they will purge the warehouse, and we'll be back to where we started. You would be better off just going in with HRT and hauling everything you find away in trucks.

"So far we are making really good progress with the investigation using the bugs we have, phone taps, cell phone monitoring, and the video surveillance. We've known about the warehouse for a bit more than a week now, I've been working with my small team for about a week and have all this data. With the resources you have here we can accelerate the investigation and take no risk of alerting the target. It's been seventeen days since their strike, and this is the first meeting, so what is so important about real time data?"

Ross stood up, looked around the room and apparently figured if he was going to get any points from the meeting today they would come from supporting Agent Tarantino because he said, "Special Agent Larson, let's put the additional bugs on hold for now. Special Agent Tarantino has a point. If we get the data from her team, assign the people to one and two agent research teams, we should be able to uncover a lot of useful information. With the warrants that would earn us, we might have enough to raid the warehouse and bring them down in a few days."

Annie pulled out her phone to text Joan and was told phones are not to be used during the meeting. She put it back. She wondered if Rossabi patched Joan in on Ross' attempt to punch her. It would be even better if Joan were listening.

Ross asked Rossabi if he'd forward the data so the 'team' could go to work on it. Rossabi agreed.

Ross turned to Annie and said, "Agent Tarantino, if you would see Special Agent Larson after the meeting, he will find you some office space and show you who to team up with."

Annie replied, "That won't be necessary. I'm working undercover on the construction site next door to the target warehouse. I plan to continue with that for at least the immediate future."

"What? Doing what?"

"Driving a bulldozer."

"You're driving a bulldozer?" Ross's surprise had gotten the attention of the room again, and they were all going back and forth between Annie and Ross like watching a tennis match.

"Yes."

"How long have you been doing that?"

"Since Monday morning."

"But the task force didn't start till today. Who authorized that?"

Rossabi answered on the speakerphone, "Her CIA Liaison suggested it, and I approved it."

"Why wasn't I consulted?"

Annie looked at Ross and said, "Truthfully, it never occurred to any of us to ask for your opinion. We are used to autonomous operation. We were on a roll, had bugs planted, phone taps in place. It seemed like eyes on was the next step."

Ross said, "You plan to continue operating like a free safety?"

"If by that you mean, on my own as the last defense between the team and the enemy? Yes. You definitely need one."

Ross stared at her for a few seconds, said, "Okay, you're on your own." Then turned to the rest of the meeting and said, "Larson will hand out team assignments. Let's get to work."

At that point, Agent Cleary and a couple of other agents who were sitting near him came over. When Annie was free from Ross, Agent Cleary said, "You just started on that construction site Monday, right?"

"Yes."

"There was a brawl in the parking lot of that site late Monday afternoon. The Union Rep, Gerstwin, got put in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder and two badly broken knees. The rumors I heard are that he attacked a female union member in the parking lot, and she beat the crap out of him. Was that you?"

"Yes."

"Gezzus, Betty Lou, that guy's a man mountain."

Annie looked around and saw they were drawing a crowd again. There wasn't anything classified so she let it continue. "Not any more. I went down Tuesday and filed charges against him for attempted murder among a host of other things."

"Doesn't that put your assignment in jeopardy?

"No. You didn't get my name, did you?"

"Uh ... no I didn't, or I'd have recognized it earlier in the meeting."

"The lieutenant, at Agent Burk's request, agreed to keep me out of it. I will testify in a closed courtroom if it comes to that. They have an airtight case against him with two witnesses. I told them I was good with plea-bargaining it down to no less than twenty years without parole. Otherwise it would be second degree attempted murder and go to trial with me testifying as a Federal Agent. They have the piece of rebar he came at me with."

"You don't mess around. You've gotten a lot done since those two terrorists had the bad luck to pick the restaurant where you were eating breakfast."

Annie chuckled, looked in Ross's direction, and said, "It's amazing what you can get done if you both know how and don't give a shit who gets the credit."

Cleary looked at her for a long moment and then said, "It certainly is. Looking forward to working with you."

Annie replied, "Same here; now Jo and I need to get some lunch."

Shortly after that the meeting broke up, and the crowd dispersed out the door, with Ross one of the first to leave. Annie said good-bye to Burk. She and Bell headed for the front door to go get some lunch. Annie said, "Jo, we need to talk."

07/17/2013


	12. Chapter 12: Terminal Stupidity

The Third Man / FW

10

Chapter 12: Terminal Stupidity

**5:00 a.m. Friday, Day 19: Annie's Philadelphia Apartment.**

Annie was awake and half way through her morning coffee when the phone rang. She checked the screen, saw that it was Auggie and answered, "Good morning handsome."

"Good morning yourself. You sound chipper."

"TGIF, Auggie."

"Actually, it may be a better day than you think. The FBI team has been making excellent progress. I'm pretty sure they have more than enough to get arrest warrants and raid the warehouse. According to Rossabi, they have been holding back because they wanted better links to overseas parts of the cell, suppliers and training bases. Burk said they are having a major progress review this morning. She can't see any reason why they shouldn't end the meeting concluding they need to bring HRT in for a raid.

"Further, I'm pretty sure we have located the Third Man and that Nassir himself will be on site today. At this point don't be surprised if you see the FBI stage a raid today, maybe even as early as this afternoon; though, were it me, I'd go in at night when the bad guys are there.

Annie was thrilled by the news. "That's great. I've been hoping for something like that to happen. I'll keep on with the 'job' just like I was going to be there till they don't need me, but I'd love to be able to call the owner and tell him he can bring in someone else to replace me. Just say the word, and I'm outta here. I'll pack up my truck and drive home."

"You seriously like that truck?"

"Auggie, I love this truck. Wait until I give you a ride in it. This thing is really cool. Five-speed stick shift, four wheel drive, two-speed transfer case, and heated power seats. Heck, it has power everything and torque in places other trucks don't have places. I'd love to hook a trailer behind it and take a trip someplace. Or put a camper on it? Maybe someday?"

"Well, yeah. We could do that. But right now, you better get ready for your day job. Just in case Ross manages to screw something up."

"I hope not. This isn't that complicated. It should have been over on day one."

"Never underestimate the power of a bureaucrat to screw things up. Uh ... Joan is in here, I have to run. Have a great day, Annie. Really looking forward to having you back here."

"That makes two of us." She ended the call.

**9:00 a.m. Friday, Day 19: Conference Room, FBI Philadelphia Office**

It was obvious to Special Agent Jo Bell that Agent Ross had intentionally picked a time to hold his team meeting when Agent Tarantino couldn't be there. She had to be at work on the construction site.

Special Agent Jo Bell didn't like the fact that Annie, _no, damnit, Agent Tarantino, not Annie or you will blow it big time and you don't want to blow her cover, _wasn't in the meeting._ Not only that, but I wish she was here to give me some feedback on whether or not anything he says makes sense. Heck, I wish she was leading the taskforce. _

Jo's unease, which she later learned was shared by Megan, started with Ross outlining his concerns about lack of data about exactly what was in the underground part of the facility.

Ross said, "We need more data on exactly what is down there to be sure we're not jumping the gun with a raid. I've decided to have Agents Larson and Bell go in and plant some high-powered audio/video bugs in the underground part of the facility, and while they are at it, take photographs of what they see. Do the recon of what's down there that should have been done by Agent Tarantino."

Jo was really nervous. She knew Annie hadn't gone down the stairs because of an alarm system. That wouldn't be a problem. If there were terrorist workers there, the alarm would be off. She acknowledged her lack of experience, but it seemed like he was taking foolish risks planting more bugs when they had phone taps. They had names of known terrorists to go with the faces they saw enter and leave. She didn't understand why they didn't just call in HRT and raid the place.

Jo said, "Agent Ross, Agent Tarantino told me she saw the stairs that lead down to the underground rooms when she planted bugs last week. She also said they were protected by a sophisticated alarm system."

"It won't be protected tonight. If they have people there, the alarm will be off. You and Agent Larson can do what should have been done the first time."

"We don't have plans for what's down there. Without knowing the layout, it's going to be impossible to plan movements that are likely to avoid running into the people that are working down there at night. We know there are five or six people that go in there late in the day. They don't come out until the early hours of the morning. Those passageways may just be concrete tunnels with no place to hide. Why don't we just execute a raid? Don't we have the warrant for it?"

"I disagree. I think there will be utilities in those tunnels that will make it possible for two people to get in and out undetected. Unlike when Agent Tarantino was in there, the alarm system will be off. It's a huge warehouse with piles of freight stacked all over the place. Hiding in the warehouse itself should be a piece of cake. You can even go in on ground level because there is a person door in the far corner on the river side of the building - you won't even have to do the climb that Tarantino used to avoid the alarm system."

"But-"

"Agent Bell, I've heard your objections, and I'm over ruling them. We'll use the existing FISA warrant; there are no material deviations from the authorized surveillance."

Megan looked at Larson and said, "You okay with this?"

Larson looked up at Ross, and feeling his career was on the line, said, "I wanted to do it the first time it came up. It's a go as far as I'm concerned. You in, Agent Bell?"

Jo didn't know what to say; she had misgivings, but she was also the least experienced on the team and figured she could get some pointers from Annie, so she said, "I'm in."

**5:00 p.m. Friday, Day 19: Construction Site.**

At the end of the day, Mike and Rob were friendlier than they had been, simply out of respect. They'd been asked to work Saturday preparing the bottom of the two pits for the forming and bar buster crews. Annie was right there with them and said she could certainly use the overtime. They each gave her a hi-five before they left for the small parking lot.

Annie retrieved her personal cell phone in the truck and saw texts from both Bell and Burk. She was shocked when they said the same thing: that Larson and Bell were, unbelievably, assigned to go in and plant more bugs. Specifically, they were to plant bugs in the underground part of the warehouse. The text's, that were delivered mid-morning, said the time for warehouse penetration was set for 12:00 midnight.

Annie decided she didn't want to have a discussion of that via text messaging, so she answered Bell with a short message that said, _meet me in my apartment at 5:45_. Then she went back to her apartment. On the way she followed protocol to be sure she wasn't tailed. She wasn't. She took a quick shower to wash off the dust, dirt and grit from the job. She pulled on sweat pants and a sweatshirt, all the while thinking hard about her Jo's situation. She concluded that her earlier plan - to plant a locator on Jo and stand by to effect a rescue, if necessary - was still the best one. She decided to stick with it even if the FBI had set up a backup team to do the rescue, if required. And, she would be happy to bet money that Ross was incapable of thinking that far ahead.

She called Auggie.

"Annie, we have a problem," Is how he answered the phone.

"Yeah. I know. I've asked Jo to meet me here about five minutes from now. While I'm waiting, were you able to get the drone reconnaissance flight I asked for to do a recon on the warehouse and surrounding area from outside?"

"Yes. Good call. Based on what I found, I got Barber to research satellite recon photos of the Philadelphia area including infrared data that might tell us if there were people present."

"What did you learn that I need to know?"

"I think there are two possible sniper positions on two separate roof tops a block apart, each about 500 yards out. The positions cover the warehouse and the construction site where you are working, but not each other.

"Really?"

"That's what the data suggests. Based on heat signatures, they are occupied 24/7. But this is all speculative based on existing satellite data."

"Please send me the pictures."

"Already did. They are on your laptop."

"Hang on," Annie opened and woke up her laptop. She found the message with the photos and the evaluation report. "Okay. Got it, gimme a minute." A bit more than the promised minute later she said, "Shit. Auggie, I have to go scout them in person. I can do it from higher buildings behind their hides - I have the night vision and heat signature gadgets you gave me, but I have to do it right now - well, immediately after I meet with Jo.

"Jo and Larson are going in to plant their bugs at zero-dark-thirty tomorrow morning. If I have to go in and rescue them, I will need the snipers out of commission."

"Agreed. If you have to go in."

"Auggie, I don't think they can make it in and out of there undetected. They have almost no chance at all. I wouldn't give me more than one or two percent chance of success. Do the FBI people have a team standing by to rescue them?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Ross doesn't think like that. He's not a tactical guy. Ask Jo when you see her. But, if you have to go in and rescue them, you will be in take no prisoners mode, and it's going to be really bloody. Make the restaurant look like child's play. They will be trying to take you out; you will have to take them out first. Reading rights and arresting isn't going to work. You know that."

"Yeah. Crap. I wouldn't give her more than five or six hours of life after capture, and those would be hell on earth."

"Annie, it's almost a certainty they will get caught if they go in tonight. There are people there at night, except during the mandatory blast evacuations that you took advantage of."

"They aren't blasting tonight, I asked. And tonight was the plan according to texts from both Burk and Bell. Ross is hard over on this, right?"

"Yeah. Rossabi didn't send video, but I dumped the bug you planted in the meeting room just after 5:00. What I heard on the playback was the first confirmation I had that they had decided to go ahead with this crazy plan. If I'd known during the day, we'd have discussed it already. From what little that can be seen on the infrared report, there are frequently as many as nine or ten people there at night. Two or three, sometimes four or five, are in the office, a couple are on roving patrol, the rest are someplace underground."

"I'm going to inject Jo with a grain of rice locator chip when she gets here if I have to take her down and tie her up to do it. I realize it won't work under ground, but it should tell us enough to know if she is captured."

There was a knock on her door. Annie walked over and saw Jo through the peephole, so she said, "Jo's here. I'll get back to you."

Annie opened the door. A worried looking Jo Bell stood in the hall. "Come in Jo,"Annie said. "We need to talk."

Jo didn't hesitate; she walked right in and said, "Annie, this is crazy. This makes like no sense at all. They should be sending in HRT to raid and arrest. Instead they are sending in Larson and me to plant more bugs."

"I didn't get your text about it until I left the construction site. I'm going to give you some advice that I hope you will listen to. I have a grain of rice locater chip. I want to plant it on you so that Auggie can track your location. We should be able to tell from the chip if you are captured or not."

"How does it work?"

"I inject it under the skin on your leg. The injection device has a coagulant and analgesic so it won't hurt more than an initial sting and it won't bleed. I've had them before. They work great. If I have to come after you, I'll inject one into my own leg."

"You inject it under my skin?"

"Yes."

"I don't know about that."

"Jo, please trust me. I've done this before. This device is darn near impossible to detect, and it's the only way I know of to know you've been captured other than to wait until you don't show up on time. If we do that, you'll be dead before I can get to you. Jo, you've got to let me do this."

"You really believe this is necessary, don't you."

"Yes, I do."

"Anybody but you, I'd say no. How do we do this?"

"I don't want to stick it through your pants, so drop them down and give me access to your thigh, and I'll put it in."

"Okay. Go get it."

Annie returned with an alcohol swab and the injector. She said, "In the field I just inject it. But since we have the luxury of time, I'll use the swab just to be sure." Annie sterilized the area with the alcohol swab, and then injected the chip into the back of Jo's thigh. She put a tiny, round, flesh-colored Band-Aid over the wound. She said, "It won't look worse than a pin prick in less than twenty-four hours, but be sure to pull the Band-Aid off before you go in to plant the bugs."

Jo looked startled and said, "Why?"

"If they catch you, the first thing they will do is strip you naked, shove a gag in your mouth, bind your hands behind your back and take you to some other location where they can use sexual abuse, pain, and humiliation to break you. They strip and violate you to make you feel vulnerable and helpless, and believe me, you are both. You don't want them to find the locator. The Band-Aid will point them at it. I injected it on the back side so that they wouldn't see the pin prick dot standing in front of you."

Jo looked at Annie wide-eyed and asked, "Did that happen to you?"

"No, but I've come close. I was in a foreign prison once; I can' tell you where. It was extremely unpleasant, but they were positively civilized in comparison to the extremists we are dealing with in this case. These people do not consider females to be of the human race. To them, you are a soulless infidel."

Seeing the fear in Jo's eyes she said, "Look, I'll know where you are. If you aren't on plan, I'm coming for you. You only have to stay alive until I get there. Tell them something, but not everything, or you are dead. It won't matter what you tell them as long as they think you know more.

"But it's classified."

"Doesn't matter. When I'm done, it won't matter what you told them because they won't be telling anyone. I'll take care of you after that. Got it?"

"Can you really do that?"

"If I come in alone I can."

"Why alone?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Because I won't be arresting anybody, and I won't have time to tie them up."

"They'll be dead."

"Yes."

"I hadn't thought about that but, if it comes to that, there isn't a choice is there."

"No."

"What am I getting into?"

"Jo, this is a complete no-win. I already told Larson and that whole meeting of idiots this is a very bad idea. They should have gone in to clean the place out on day one. You are getting into an impossible situation. You have a better chance of winning the Power Ball lottery three times in a row than getting in and out of an occupied warehouse without being caught. When you get caught, you put the whole mission at risk. If you are caught, we have to basically throw caution to the winds and try to get you out."

"I know about you; who's the 'we'?"

"Auggie. He'll back me if I have to come after you."

"Back you how? He's blind and in DC, right."

"Yes, but I'll have him on the phone. He has been my backup when he was oceans away, literally."

Annie decided to change the subject on the assumption Jo would have to go in. She said, "Let's assume, for a minute, you are going to go in, and you plant the bugs. I'd like to make sure you understand what's in that warehouse."

For the next hour, they discussed the mission. Annie reviewed what she saw and heard when she went in. She drew a floor plan from memory and talked about where bugs might be most useful. Jo began to be more positive. Annie had Jo commit the floor plan to memory. Then, when she said she had it, took it away and made her draw it on a clean sheet of paper to prove that she knew it. It took two tries, but Jo finally got it right.

When she was done, she turned to Annie and said, "Nobody ever made me do that before. From now on, I'll make myself do it."

"Good idea. Now, I've got some things I have to do, and you need to get your gear together."

"Thank you for the pointers and the diagram. That's the first useful input I've gotten since I was given the orders to go in."

"Look, if you think you are about to be caught, fight like a cornered cat. Start blasting, shoot anything that moves and head for the nearest exit."

"You really don't think this is a good idea do you."

"No. But what I think doesn't matter. What matters now is that you give it your best shot. You have the best data I can give you, and you are currently on satellite. Auggie knows exactly where you are. If you get in trouble, he'll let me know. I'm your parachute."

Shortly after that, Jo took her leave, and Annie turned her focus to doing a reconnaissance on the alleged sniper stations.

**9:00 p.m. Friday, DAY 19: Annie's Apartment.**

After confirming the sniper stations were real and manned, which she accomplished in less time than she'd anticipated, Annie returned to her room. She called Auggie who answered, "Get some sleep, Annie. You are on overtime and have to run that dozer again tomorrow morn-" He stopped mid-sentence.

"Auggie?"

"Just a second."

"Annie, I've been watching Jo's locator. It shows her in motion leaving the staging area. You get some sleep. I'll track this."

"Okay. I'm exhausted. Hopefully they are better at this than I think they are."

"Love you, have a good night."

"Love you too."

**00:04 a.m. Saturday, Day 20: Annie's Apartment.**

Annie was dragged from a deep sleep by the sound of her phone ringing. She picked it up, looked at the front of it which had the time, four minutes after midnight, and a garbage code word on it that told her it was Auggie calling.

When she touched the answer icon Auggie said, "Jo's been in the warehouse for the last half hour. Based on her locator's movements over the last five minutes, I think she's been taken down or at least captured. The locator stopped, moved erratically, then changed to the pace of one being dragged and moved to where you said the stairs were. Then it disappeared off my screen." He paused, then continued, "Without going into detail, I've confirmed based on a bug dump. Right now, if you are going ahead with your plan to rescue her, you need to gear up. Do not put in your earwig. From the bug dump I did, I think that's how they caught Larson and Bell. It was either that or they have a real time scanner that picked up their bugs. I've got more coming in from the FBI, but it isn't relevant at the moment."

Annie replied, "I'll be outnumbered seven or eight to one, and I don't have a suppressor with me. Is there any chance we have a team close by?"

"No. I already checked with Operations. Closest rapid response teams are in New York City and Langley. They're both in 'on call' status - not even cold standby.

"Shit. Text me the checklist. Out."

Annie quickly injected the grain of rice tracking device in her own thigh, covered the wound with a small, flesh-colored bandage, and then quickly dressed in the same clothes and gear she'd worn at Frank's during her last training session. She tucked her hair into a tight bun. It took her about fifteen minutes to get ready. Frank had actually made her practice getting dressed and geared up, and she could see the pay-off. She grabbed her black balaclava and pulled it partly on to her head. She added the infrared sensor and the small night vision scope Auggie had given her to take with her. She didn't have a suppressor with her. If it was discovered on route to the warehouse or the sniper hides it would raise a lot of questions. At this point, she knew she'd want one, but waiting for one was not an option. Ready to go, she called Auggie back.

"Anderson," he answered.

"Is Joan with you?"

"Yes. On speaker"

Joan said, "Annie?"

"Is the mission still on?"

"I just learned, like five minutes ago, that the FBI began overseas take downs."

"I don't care about that. Is the FBI willing to go in and get Jo out?"

"They made a call to the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, but they are in Quantico and can't be in position with a plan for at least four hours. I think the countdown on that started five minutes ago. They have nobody local that can take it on. Their official position is that this is HRT's job. Nobody in the local office has any experience with something like this. They have been told by HQ to focus on the takedown. Let HRT handle the rescue. Ross said they aren't due for a check yet, so they aren't officially missing, but he did call HRT. I suggested to Rossabi that they call in Philadelphia SWAT, but he said that had been turned down by Ross, and he doesn't have the authority to overrule him."

"I can't believe these people. She'll be dead, or be better off dead, by then."

"I know. But she's their responsibility, Annie."

"Joan, I've been in that warehouse. It's been redone inside; where they probably have her isn't even on the plans. It's nothing like the plans Ross got from Building and Safety. I know how to get to where they are most likely holding her - I haven't been down it, but I've seen the stairwell that leads to their underground addition. If I go in alone and take no prisoners, I have as good a chance to get her out as Eyal had of getting me out of the Russian prison. If I have to take along amateur help, we'll all get killed. If she has to wait for the HRT, she'll be killed."

"You're going, aren't you?"

"Yes. You know what I'm going to do? What I'm going to have to do to get her out? Right? I'm going to get really dirty."

"Yes. I know. I don't like it, but I don't see any other way to get her out alive. If I were you, I'd do the same thing. I saw the video from your last training session at Franks. You are as well prepared as anyone ever is for something like this. If I hadn't seen the video, I wouldn't let you go."

"Joan, I-"

"Save it, Annie. The mission is strictly voluntary, but if you are determined to go, consider this a cover-your-ass order to go in and do what you have to do. I'll call Rossabi and get him to authorize it so you're legal under the judge's order. Be as safe as you can - I've officially got your six. Try not to shoot anybody in the back and remember Arthur's advice."

"Put them down so they can't get up. Got it."

"I have to go."

In the background Annie heard Joan say, "Auggie, get Barber in here; give her all the support you can. Arthur didn't authorize a team because this was an FBI case, and Annie being on loan was our only connection. I need to get him to sign off on this. And I know some people in Harrisburg that I'll try to get there in the next ninety minutes to two hours."

The next voice she heard was Auggie, "You heard her, right?"

"Yes."

"Come home to me, Annie."

"Mission face. Gotta go."

"Understood."

Out of habit, she looked one more time in the bag and saw the fifty-foot climbing rope. She decided to bring it along just in case.

As ready as she knew how to be, she slipped out to the pickup without attracting any attention and told herself, "It's on."

07/17/2013


	13. Chapter 13: Freedom Is Not Free

The Third Man / FW

9

**AN: **Once again I own a tremendous thank you AleciaB, PatriciaLouise, and Gwynne who all proofed this story in one way or another. I'd love to see what goes on in Gwynne's head when she's reading: I fanaticize her brain displays fully diagrammed sentences in real-time as she reads and flashes red and makes a sound like the dive command in a WW-II submarine when she sees some of my punctuation errors. She has more patience than the law allows.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Freedom is not Free**

_"When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself." ~ Shunryu Suzuki_

_"Never advance cheerfully on your late opponent without reloading. You may have used your last round, and he may not be properly dead and still spiteful." Maj. Hugh Pollard _

**Previously:**

_Out of habit, she looked one more time in the bag and saw the fifty-foot climbing rope. She decided to bring it along just in case. _

_As ready as she knew how to be, she slipped out to the pickup that was part of her cover ID without attracting any attention and told herself, "It's on." _

**01:38 a.m. Saturday, Day 20: Roof of building with 1st. sniper station.**

Annie arrived on the roof where the first sniper station was located. As far as she could tell, she was undetected. She checked her phone for messages. There was a text from Auggie that said, "A & R on board. Locator working. Got your 6. Joan has pickup team from Harrisburg. ETA 80 min." She read it expressionless and unconsciously nodded even though there was nobody to see her do it. She inhaled a deep breath, used another twenty seconds to establish her combat breathing mode, to focus herself, then pulled the balaclava down to cover all but her eyes. She moved silently out the door and across five yards of roof to her planned assessment point. She studied the sniper station. There was enough light from the city that she didn't need the night vision device. She first located the sniper about twenty-five feet away from his hide by the smell and then the glow of a cigarette. She hadn't expected him to be there. A scan with the heat sensor confirmed that the only heat signature likely to be a person was the sniper outside his hide smoking. Nothing inside or nearby gave off a human heat signature. She could see the signatures of hot motors and compressors in the air conditioning equipment but there was nothing that resembled a human being.

After a few moments thought, with her plan of attack well in mind, she eased back around the equipment housing and stayed out of his line of sight while she worked to get into position to take him down when he returned to his hide. Shortly after starting her move, when she was certain he couldn't see the glow, she checked the photo she'd taken from the adjacent rooftop and verified her path to a good take down location. Everything checked.

The breeze was definitely from him to her because she smelled his cigarette. Annie was able to get in position behind a relatively large ventilation shaft hood between him and the entrance to his hide. Her plan was to take the sniper down when he tried to re-enter his hide.

She waited with her face down until she judged by sound he was just past her, rose up and took him down from behind relatively easily and quietly with a hard blow to the base of his skull with the hard knuckle gloves. The take down left him unconscious, maybe paralyzed, but he had a pulse and was breathing. Concerned he might regain consciousness, she quickly zip tied his hands and feet together. She ripped the sleeve off his shirt to make a suitable rag and stuffed it in his mouth. She quickly ripped the other sleeve to make a band she could tie around his head to keep the gag in there. Leaving him alive was risk enough. If he suffocated, tough.

It took all her strength to move his unconscious body into the hide, but after a couple of minutes of intense effort, she had him inside the hide out of sight to the casual observer. She zip tied his hands to his belt and feet. She saw a pipe, maneuvered his head next to it, and put a zip tie around his neck and the pipe. Satisfied he wasn't going anyplace she looked around. He had an Accuracy International sniper rifle chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum - it had a suppressor on it, but since the shot would have been 500 meters or more, she was certain it wasn't loaded with subsonic ammo. Still, the suppressor would have given him a couple more shots before he had to run to avoid being caught than if he didn't use it. She decided to leave it there as proof that he was in fact a sniper. She sent Auggie a text, "S1 OOC."

Her quick survey also located his drag bag. In it, she found a Glock 17 with a threaded barrel much like the Wolf barrel on her Glock 19. With a few seconds further investigation, she had the sniper's 9 mm suppressor in her hand. It wasn't the same as the one she used at Frank's, but it was a similar size and weight and would fit in the pocket for that purpose on her left thigh. She used the Leatherman to loosen the protective nut on the end of her barrel, spun it off, quickly tried the suppressor on the exposed threads of her Glock 19, and it fit. She unscrewed the suppressor, slid it in the thigh pocket and put the protective nut in her pocket because she didn't want to lose the time to take it off if she needed the silencer.

She unloaded the sniper rifle, removed the bolt, and threw it out of the hide toward where he had been smoking. She field stripped his Glock, threw the barrel on top of a nearby air conditioning tower, and left it there. She had no good way to carry it and fight. With one last quick look around, she left the roof top and headed for the stairs and her truck. The drive to the second building with a sniper would take several precious minutes, but it had to be done.

When she arrived at the door to the roof on the building where the second sniper hide was located, she found it ajar. Glad she'd been almost silent, she again pulled down the balaclava then got out the heat sensor and located two signatures. One was in the hide about fifty yards away that was line of sight from the door. The second signature was in the open moving rapidly in her direction. She reasoned it might be a shift change. She moved quickly back down the stairs and took up a position under them. Plan A was to let him leave. Plan B was to bring him down silently. If he were able to alert the other man in the hide so he could call it in, her chance of success would go to near zero.

She heard him come onto the stairs and shut the door to the roof behind him. The K-bar slid silently out of the right sheath into her hand while she waited for him to descend the stairs. He hit the bottom and headed away from her straight toward the door. She thought he would leave, but he suddenly spun toward her with a silenced pistol in his hand. The space in the narrow gap between the stairs and the wall made it awkward to get at her behind the stair well. Just as the suppressor appeared she lunged forward and grabbed it to wrench the gun upward. She stayed low as she pivoted around the stair case. His shot went above her and missed. Her grip gave her the leverage to pry the gun back toward him and cause a jam. His attention flickered from her to the gun; he was frantic to get it back in action.

The distraction was all the edge she needed. She let go of the knife, folded her fingers back to make a blade instead of a fist of her knuckles, stepped into the punch, and was able to land a vicious blow directly to his undefended larynx with the hard covering over the second joints of her glove. That strike effectively ended the fight. He let go of the gun, and after a brief scuffle she was able to get him on the floor and disable him with a full power strike to the back of his neck before he could do more than make choking sounds.

She felt a weak pulse, so she picked up the knife and quickly returned it to its sheath. Then she zip tied his hands and feet, and gagged him like she had the first sniper. With him out of commission, she picked up his weapon. She wasn't surprised to learn it was a Glock. It took her ten seconds to clear the jam and get it operational. One last quick check and she stalked silently back up the stairs with the acquired Glock in her hands. She was grateful the door was shut because it meant there was almost no chance the sniper in the hide had heard the fight.

She stalked the other sniper's hide and discovered she had no practical way to take him alive. So she backed up to cover and took a few seconds to plan. She decided she wanted the gun and ammunition to be known quantities. She laid down the acquired Glock, took out her Glock, and screwed on the suppressor she'd captured from the first sniper. She walked quietly out of sight of the entrance to within ten yards of his hide. She moved silently over until she faced directly into the hide. She trained her sights on his head and said,"FBI, hands on your head." He was almost too quick. He turned with no hesitation at all and lunged in her direction. Fortunately, he had to come straight at her through the rather narrow door, so she almost couldn't miss. She fired once, and put a single bullet through his left eye into his brain. He dropped lifeless to the roof just outside the door to his hide.

Annie watched him for a couple of seconds, with the sights trained on the top of his head. When he didn't move, she did a quick right left to break her concentration, then made a slow 360 degree scan to be sure she was still alone. She moved closer, knew from the condition of his head he was dead. She looked into the hide and saw his bag but didn't waste time looking in it. She removed the bolt from his rifleand threw it on top of a nearby air conditioning tower. Annie moved back to the body and quickly removed, unloaded, and field stripped his Glock. She threw the pieces across the roof letting them scatter. Then she went to the discarded Glock taken from the sniper at the bottom of the stairs, unscrewed the suppressor, field stripped it and scattered its parts.

At this point, the only focus was Jo, but she was also concerned about whether or not the shift change had already happened at the other sniper station. Had they found the guy tied up and put out the alarm already?

She tapped Auggie's number on speed dial and said, "Auggie, I think I just ran into a sniper shift change. Please make sure one doesn't happen at the other hide. If they find the guy I left there, I'll be compromised."

"We don't have real time infrared."

"Roger. Out." She ended the call.

She took in the information. _Okay, so there is no way to know and no option but to proceed. It sucks. Time to get on with it anyway._ She pushed that into a compartment in her head, abruptly turned and left for the stairs. At the bottom she took a few seconds to check behind the stairway, saw the first guy was still where she had left him, and headed for the truck without checking on his breathing. When questioned about it later her answer would be, "If he wasn't breathing, it didn't matter. If he was breathing, it didn't matter because I sure wasn't going to drop him off at an ER on the way to rescue Agent Bell."

It took her another twenty minutes to get from the second sniper hide to, and onto, the construction site and inside the fence using the route she used when she placed the bugs. She was thankful the service trucks weren't there getting the machinery ready for tomorrow. She went up the outside of the building using the grapple she'd used the first time. She went in through the missing window and onto the catwalk up inside the wall next to the roof just like she had during her previous visit. She assumed Larson and Bell had gone in on the ground floor through a personnel door, but she had no way to know for sure and didn't want to repeat what they'd done in case someone was looking for a backup to follow them.

She was relieved to find the warehouse was almost pitch black inside with just a little illumination coming in through the scattered windows like the one she had just used as her entry point. Apparently they didn't want to attract attention by having it all lit up. The darkness increased the probability of success.

There was the glow of office lights near the far end that hadn't been there when the building was evacuated, so there was a good chance someone was there. She took out the night vision monocular and did a careful scan of the warehouse. She didn't see any movement ,so she took out the infrared sensor and did a scan with that. She picked up two stationary heat signatures near where she remembered the stairs being. _Possible sentries because our guess was right and Jo is in the basement?_

She moved carefully to make sure none of her equipment clanged on the steel catwalk railing or the building. She made it, apparently undetected, to where she'd been more than a week before. Her spare rope was still there. She wanted to descend here because it put her quickly behind a tall pile of crates that would block the view of her descent from most of the warehouse.

The catwalk had a wood floor that was not all that sturdy, so she was very careful how she moved. She used the IR detector and located a heat signature right where Auggie said Larson and Bell were when it looked like they were interfered with. Another pair of heat signatures showed up, farther away but brighter, moving toward the single one. She had a sinking feeling the first signature was a body, probably Larson's, since she knew the locator signal from Jo had moved over to the stairway. Hopefully, Jo was alive and underground. At least that was the working hypothesis.

She remained still and was able to see them when they turned on their flashlights in an apparent effort to locate what she was afraid was a body. They were talking in English. Annie was concerned about the flashlights, so she stayed high and lay down on the catwalk. She took great care to not drop anything or make a noise. She could see everything they did in the light. They had bright lights, bright enough that she took a cell phone picture of what she saw and sent it to Auggie. She didn't take the time for a text. The picture was self-explanatory.

She learned later that he showed the picture to Joan. She'd taken about thirty seconds to control her anger at the stupidity that had gotten Larson killed. Then, because she'd been a field agent, Auggie said she focused on ways she might help Annie get herself and Jo out alive.

With no choice, Annie focused on the action below to figure out what these guys would do. She heard them complain about having to retrieve this infidel's body when they could be in the room with the naked woman. For a moment Annie was concerned Jo was already dead. Then she felt a perverse sense of relief when they groused to each other about not being the ones who had gotten to strip the infidel woman naked. That bit of news told her Jo was still alive but probably in desperate straits. She had to wait until they moved on, but she wished they'd speed it up.

They loaded the body on a wheeled cart and headed in the direction of the acid barrels Annie had located during her previous visit. They complained continuously as they wheeled Larson's body away. They wondered how long they would get to use her, maybe a few days this time if Nassir let her eat and didn't beat her up too much before she finally talked and they had to kill her. They were really upset because this was only the second female infidel they'd had and the only white woman. Annie shivered, pushed her fear into a compartment in her head, locked it away, and put herself into full battle mode. _Won't be using any more zip ties, _she decided.

She waited until the two who had taken Larson's body were out of sight behind a pile of some sort of freight containers and lowered the rope from her first visit. She looped it over a pipe so that she could pull it down after she'd descended. After a quick final check to make sure all her gear was securely fastened and couldn't drop free, she silently maneuvered herself under the railing, over the edge onto the rope and slid down to floor level. She figured Jo might be hurt, or damaged badly enough that she wouldn't be able to climb the rope, so she gave the rope a gentle tug and let it fall to the floor. It made a little noise but not too much. Annie froze in place, then moved out to a vantage point and scanned but didn't see any heat signatures.

The other immediate consequence of her plan to take Jo out at ground level was that she had to take out all the guards she encountered going in and out. That met kill them quietly. Nobody here was a rent-a-cop; they were all true believers, enemy combatants. They'd be legally okay for a drone strike - the difference now was that she was the drone. Based on what she'd heard they had already tortured and killed at least one, and maybe more than one, person. At this point, she was indifferent to the guards' survival. If they got in the way, they were just 'next'. She'd deal with the after effects when Jo was safe.

She found a place to take refuge behind some large boxes and decided she needed to make contact with Auggie.

Annie shielded the phone with her body and texted, "Main floor. Larson dead. Find Jo next." and touched send. Auggie would know where in the floor plan she was, but not her elevation. The text was to confirm she was at floor level and confirm the picture.

Her plan was to work her way to and down the stairs she saw on her previous visit. The phone vibrated and she saw a text from Joan that said, "Don't do it, extraction team on the way." Annie texted her reply, "Stop them. You'll get us killed." She paused for a moment, then added the word, "Out," to let them know the phone would be ignored. Then she turned the phone off.

She knew there was no time. She moved carefully to the edge of her concealment and scanned in the direction of the hidden stairwell with the heat sensor. She picked out what looked to be the same two heat signatures she'd seen from the catwalk. They were motionless on opposite sides of what appeared to be a large pile of crates near the stairwell. It would be necessary to take them both down to have a reasonable chance of entering the stairwell undetected. The good news was that they were out of sight of each other. The bad news was that they were close enough together that, in this warehouse, the sound of taking down one would attract the other, and he would arrive within a few seconds. She estimated the distance between them at twenty-five yards. Figured it would give her five seconds, maybe seven, after he heard a noise to be done with the first one and ready for the second. It was going to be tight. First guy had to die quickly.

After a couple of moments of checking with the night vision monocular, she verified that one of them was within sight of the stairwell entrance - she needed to draw that one away from there so any noise wouldn't alert those below ground. Taking down the other one was almost certain to do that so he was first. They had to go down hard. She had no other option.

There was no path, except in the open, to cover near the one farthest from the stair well. She carefully lowered herself to her belly and silently low crawled what she estimated to be thirty yards to the nearest cover. By the time she arrived, she was very glad she had the knee and elbow guards built into her coverall. It felt like it took her forever to make that thirty yards, but there was no alarm, and when she checked, the heat signatures hadn't moved.

Once there she worked her way, carefully, to within a few yards of the heat signature farthest from the stairs. She was able to see him in the night vision scope and saw he was leaning against the pile of crates with his back to her. She studied him for a few moments but saw nothing that would indicate he was on high alert.

She could see him partially silhouetted against the light from the office end of the warehouse. She stalked him and had gotten within ten feet before he apparently sensed her presence. As soon as she saw him move, she attacked. She was still able to get behind him, used use a move Auggie had taught her, overpower him, and snap his neck, killing him instantly. It was quick, but the process wasn't totally silent. The other one apparently heard the scuffle because she heard sounds of feet running in her direction. She dropped the body and moved to a dark notch in the pile of crates about three yards from the body just in time.

The second one arrived, looked around, and then bent over toward the man on the floor. As he bent, Annie took two silent strides, grabbed his head, and broke his neck with an audible snap.

She heard his weapon hit the floor and lowered the body to the gloor. She took a few seconds to locate his weapon and determine, by feel, that it was a Glock 17 with a suppressor on it. Wondering about how well equipped these people were, Annie decided it might be good to have an extra weapon with a suppressor for Jo. Bad news, it couldn't use magazines for her 19. Good news, her 19 could use the magazines for the 17. She couldn't tell what ammo it had other than it was jacketed hollow point ammo, and there was a round in the chamber. The plus was a weapon for Jo; the minus was more equipment that could hamper her ability to fight. She decided she was close enough to Jo that everybody else was going to be shot because of the light she saw in the stairwell. And the extra weapon in Jo's hands might make _the_ difference if they had to fight their way out. _Okay, keep the gun_.

Annie quickly searched the body and found two spare magazines on it. She decided based on weight that they were loaded and stuck them in her left rear pocket. She unscrewed the suppressor, unbuttoned her jumpsuit, and stuck the Glock and the suppressor into the pockets on the bulletproof vest. She was deeply thankful that Frank had recommended she add the extra pockets for just such an occasion. She had no idea how many hostiles were between her and getting Jo out on the ground floor. Nassir seemed to have an endless supply of well armed true believers. It bothered her that she had lost track of the two that left with Larson's body. She didn't want them showing up behind her at the wrong moment but going after them wasn't an option either.

She moved out from the stairs about ten feet and for the first time since arriving on the main floor had a good view of the well-lit office area at the end of the building about 150 yards away. There were several piles of crates and boxes between the stairwell and the office on the direct line of sight, so the lights from the office didn't shine where she was, or where she needed to go.

While she watched, one guy left the office and headed in her direction. She was pretty sure he didn't know she was there, but he might have something to do with their plans for Jo. She wasn't sure if he was headed for the stairs or not, but he would pass right by her if he was. She was about to take him down when she saw a second man leave the office also headed in her direction, She remained still. Annie didn't see how she could take the first man undetected or get this second man from the office undetected before he got to the stairs. The first man was already past her, so she decided not to risk discovery with a low probability attack on the second one.

He had his hand to his head and was looking straight ahead. Annie decided he was focused on a conversation, apparently to someone in his chain of command. He continued past her headed directly to the stairway without looking around. She caught fragments of his end of the conversation but couldn't make sense of it other than the phrase, "Yes, he's in the acid barrels. She's in the basement ... give me a couple of hours. ... Amir, relax, I'll find out what she knows, and then we'll kill her. ... I'll use electric shock first, ..." his voice faded into unintelligibility as he entered the stair well and descended the stairs less than a minute behind the first one. His actions convinced Annie they were, at least so far, unaware of her presence in the warehouse.

Annie waited until he was through the door, waited for a slow ten count, prepared to follow him, and froze as two more men appeared from the far end of the warehouse and followed him down the stairs. Annie was relieved; at least now she thought she knew the location of the two that she'd lost track of. She was also relieved that they apparently hadn't stumbled across the bodies of their companions because they hadn't raised an alarm. She speculated to herself, based on their earlier conversation, that they didn't raise an alarm because they thought the others were in the basement with the naked lady. So far, so good.

What she didn't like was that now she'd face at least four in the basement - probably at least one more since it seemed unlikely they had left Jo unguarded. Maybe as many as six. Her Glock was two short of full; that gave her fourteen rounds. Plus she had the second one that she thought probably had seventeen rounds in it. She decided against reloading to avoid making the noise. She checked the spare magazines on her left side to make sure they were oriented for a fast reload. They were. She screwed the suppressor on her Glock. Ran through a mental checklist and decided she was ready.

They'd left the stairwell entrance door ajar. She listened, heard the sounds of conversation as they descended the stairs. The stair noises stopped, and the conversation faded away. She listened intently for several seconds and heard nothing. Then the muffled sound of voices drifted up the stairs. She decided it was now or never and took a last scan all around with both the night vision device and the IR sensor. When she saw nothing, she stowed them in pockets. She backed up, decided on prudence, powered on her phone, and sent Auggie a quick text that said, "Going down stairs."

**Meanwhile Back at Langley:**

Annie learned later that when Auggie showed Joan the text, she just shook her head, said, "Fuck," under her breath.

Unknown to Annie at the time, Joan had managed to assemble a CIA 'Team' using private contractors out of Harrisburg. Arthur didn't want her to use the team for legal reasons but she felt she needed to have a plan B in case Annie was pinned down. With that in mind, Joan updated the hastily assembled team on Annie's situation and ordered them in through the construction site. She knew that they had just landed, but they were staged ten blocks away, had some gear up to do, and wouldn't arrive until it was all over, one way or the other. _Still,_ she reasoned, _if Annie had to barricade herself in the basement, she might hold out long enough for this team to get to her._ Then she'd turned to Auggie and said, "God, I hope she makes it through this. I wanna ring her neck myself."

"Good luck with that."

Joan had looked at him and said, "You're right, I couldn't do it if I tried. But I can still want to, dammit."

**In the Warehouse:**

The stairwell had a couple of bare bulb lights in it. She hated the lights but didn't dare turn them off, even though she saw the switch, for fear it would alert those below. She moved against the far wall and quickly, but silently, worked her way down the stairs with her Glock at low ready. There was about an eight foot wide, surprisingly tall, hallway at right angles to the bottom of the stairs that lead to two doorways before it curved to her left. Both doors were open. The one she had a direct view of was dark; the one in the sidewall had light coming out of it. To her left the hallway ended at a large closed door. That made her nervous, but there was nothing she could do about it. All of a sudden, she heard a scream of incredible agony that seemed to last forever. It was followed by voices, and she immediately froze. Then she took advantage of the commotion that accompanied a second scream to move quickly to the door of the room, take a quick glance, and then pull back against the wall adjacent to the door on the stairwell side.

What she saw would haunt her dreams for months, but at the moment, she just pulled back to close her eyes, review what she'd seen and do a two second rehearsal of her impending attack.

There were five men and a hanging body, (No comma.) in the room. Three to Annie's left on one side of Jo, one just to the right of her, and one about fifteen feet farther to the right against the wall near some electrical equipment. In between the two groups, Jo hung naked by her arms from a rope that suspended her so her feet were a good twelve inches off the floor. Her feet were tied about four feet apart to something in the floor by what appeared to be light chain. There was a puddle of what looked like urine on the floor between her feet. The puddle and lack of tension in Jo's body gave Annie a momentary fright; then she remembered seeing her head move, so she wasn't dead.

There was an electrical cable of some sort fastened to the chain on Jo's left foot. Annie listened, and because they were talking loudly to Jo, she could hear what they said while she continued processing what she saw.

From where Annie would attack, the one just to the left of Jo was holding a gun at his side in his right hand. He was apparently the leader of this group because he was doing the talking. From the voice, she thought he was the second man from the office. The way the others stood showed deference to him - he was the big dog in the group. The others, none holding a gun that she had seen, stood a bit farther away. They weren't spread out enough to give her easy targets, but, if they didn't move to cover each other, she had a shot at each of them without aiming at Jo. The one just to the right of Jo had on big rubber gloves and was holding what look like an ordinary jumper cable clamp with a wet sponge in it; at least she saw something dripping off it. There were wires from the two clamps connected to some sort of box that was plugged into the wall over by the guy on the far right. Annie prioritized her shot sequence. She'd take the man with the visible gun first. Then the other two next to him because she had to make almost no lateral movement to align her sights on them. Man holding the sponge with electrical stuff could wait because he would have to decide to let go of it to attack her or defend himself. The guy on the far right was last because he was the farthest from both she and Jo and had no obvious weapon in his hands.

This assessment had taken just a few seconds.

She'd heard the same voice say, "That was just a sample. He enjoys this. It will get much worse until you talk or your body rips itself apart from out of control contractions caused by the current. You talk, and we will kill you quickly. Resist and it will take days for you to die the most horrible imaginable death."

Annie felt incredible relief that she channeled into fierce determination when she heard Jo reply with a strained, "Fuck you!"

The voice continued quietly, "No, you have this all backwards. That's what we do to you. We use pain and humiliation in equal doses. Everybody we've had where you are now has talked and then died. Everybody. Nobody has ever not told us what they know. You will too. We always get what we want. It's just a matter of when."

Annie didn't wait any longer; she moved smoothly around the corner into a slight crouch, braced her arms against the doorframe, and fired three sets of double taps in quick succession. The man on the left was first because he had a gun - his head exploded blood and brains, some of which landed on Jo. The next two shots had the same effect on the next man. She put the last of the three double taps into the torso of the man on the far left because he had reflexively jerked forward in an effort to hide behind Jo. He didn't make it, but he didn't die instantly either.

She swung across Jo and put two shots into the head of the man with the rubber gloves. He'd dropped the cables, tried in vain to pull out a gun still wearing the heavy gloves, and died before he could complete the attempt. He dropped, and she turned to the man by the electrical apparatus. She was willing to spare him, but he'd made the mistake of pulling his gun and had it in his hand. Almost too late, Annie fired her fifth double tap and dropped him right where he stood. Then she swung left and right checking for hostile activity from any of them, She saw none, spun around to check the hall which was also free of immediate threats. So she hit the magazine release, captured the ejected magazine, stuffed it in a front pocket, reloaded with one of her spare magazines. Then she moved toward Jo who stared at her with eyes wide open, reflecting pure terror. A movement from the man on the far left caused Annie to swing her gun in his direction. When she saw him struggle to raise his gun she reflexively fired two shots into his head. His body spasmed and then collapsed onto the floor. She saw a puddle form and smelled the stench from most of their bladders and bowels releasing. She ignored it.

Annie thought Jo was going to scream again. She pulled up her balaclava to let Jo see it was her and said, "Jo, it's me. Annie. Please don't scream anymore. I'll get you out of here. Nod if you understand."

Jo's eyes didn't change, but she nodded, Annie said, "Be right back, I gotta check my six." She quickly back to the door, checked up the stairs, returned and freed Jo's feet. Then she walked over to where the rope was fastened on the wall and managed to lower Jo, who collapsed on the floor but missed the puddle. Annie freed her hands, helped her ease her tortured shoulders and move her arms to a more normal position then said, "There may be more of them. We need to get out of here. Where are your clothes?"

* * *

**EN:** This chapter was hard to write but it was also fun. How did you like the action?

07/17/2013


	14. Chapter 14: Escape

**AN: **Once again, a heart felt thank you to my mentors and reviewers. Also thanks to reviewer eramosa for pointing out a Fridge moment in the story that needed fixing. I was not happy with myself that it was there, but I was very grateful for having it pointed out so I could fix it.

**Chapter 14: Escape**

**Previously:**

_Annie thought Jo was going to scream again. She pulled up her balaclava to let Jo see it was her and said, "Jo, it's me. Annie. Please don't scream anymore. I'll get you out of here. Nod if you understand."_

_Jo's eyes didn't change but she nodded, Annie said, "Be right back, I gotta check my six," moved quickly back to the door, checked up the stairs, returned and freed Jo's feet. Then she walked over to where the rope was fastened on the wall and managed to lower Jo who collapsed on the floor but missed the puddle. Annie freed her hands, helped her ease her tortured shoulders and move her arms to a more normal position then asked, "Where are your clothes?"_

**2:06 a.m. Saturday, Day 20: Basement Room in Terrorist Cell Warehouse**.

Jo took a moment to comprehend the question then nodded toward Annie's left.

Annie said, "I see them."

Jo nodded.

It took Annie longer than she'd have thought, but between trips to check the hallway, she freed Jo's feet, helped her to her stand up, and got her dressed. She found Jo's shoes and socks intact and had her put them on while she watched the stairs. Jo didn't respond verbally, but she complied with requests. Annie didn't care as long as she could follow directions and walk.

When she was covered Annie asked, "Jo, can you walk? We need to get out of here. Now."

Jo was moving better, getting her shoulders to free up. Annie was encouraged when Jo said, "I want a gun."

Annie took out the Glock she'd taken from the terrorist closest to the stairwell, screwed on the suppressor, and then said, "Take this one, but don't use it unless you have to. Got it?"

When Jo nodded once. Annie handed her the spare magazines for the Glock 17 and said, "Put these in your left rear pocket. If you have to reload, just drop the spent magazine and leave it." Jo nodded and put the magazines in her pocket as requested. Then Annie handed her the gun and was a little concerned when there was no change of expression.

"Jo, we gotta go. Stay behind me and watch where you point that thing." Jo just nodded one more time and looked toward the door.

Annie found another light switch at the bottom of the stairs and turned the stair well lights off. She waited a few seconds for her eyes to start to adapt to the dark, then she and Jo worked their way up the stairs unopposed. When they got to the door onto the main floor of the warehouse, Annie could see the silhouette of a guy headed toward them at a dead run. Annie figured he might have seen the lights go off and had to be on his way to the stairwell where they were located. With the stair well pitch dark behind them, she and Jo would be invisible, so she pushed the door wide open to encourage him to come into the stairs moving rapidly. She handed her Glock to Jo and whispered, "Go down two stairs, back against the wall." She felt rather than saw Jo comply. Then she crouched down to give herself the leverage to boost the guy down the stairs.

When the guy lunged into the stair well, he instinctively pointed his gun up and focused more on balance than defense. Big mistake. Annie took him over her shoulder, launched him through the air headfirst down the concrete stairs, and at the same time, she managed to avoid following him by grabbing the railing. He landed with a sickening sound.

Annie quickly checked outside, saw motion way down by the office, estimated she had 20 seconds, bounded down the stairs past a frozen Jo, quickly located the body in the dark, checked, and found him dead. They learned later that his skull was crushed on one side, and his neck was broken. She saw a faint silhouette of Jo at the door looking out into the warehouse. Jo ducked back down the stairs. Annie ran silently back up the stairs. Jo whispered, "There are two more coming fast; I think they have sub guns."

Annie took her Glock from Jo. She realized by the sound of pounding feet that they were almost on them. She moved up enough to barely give her a shot over the top step. She saw them coming about twenty feet away against the faint glow from the office and took them both down with double taps to the head. They collapsed to a stop right at the top of the stairs. She quickly stepped up and stuck her head farther out to look for other attackers. When she didn't see any, she removed the IR scanner, scanned and didn't pick up any additional heat sources. She ducked back into the stairwell. Jo said, "What?"

Annie said, "They are dead, nobody coming, need to reload." She did. She took a moment and by feel in the dark, consolidated the ammo from two of her partly filled magazines to make a full one. That left her with two full ones plus the fresh one in the Glock. She left the empty one on the stairs and placed the partly full one in a cargo pocket so she wouldn't reload with it by mistake.

That done, Annie turned toward Jo even though it was pitch black and said quietly, "You ready? We need to leave."

She was relieved when Jo replied, also quietly but sounding stronger, "Yeah. What's the plan?"

"We'll leave by the office. It's about 150 yards from the stairwell in that direction. Watch our six. I'll take down anything in front of us."

"Got it."

With Annie in the lead and Jo covering their rear, they made it to a darkened location along the end wall near the office. After a check around with the heat sensor, they continued until they were able to see through the windows into the lit up interior. The office was empty. They checked the exit door and saw there was a light outside. Annie decided to revise her plan and said, "We need a different way out. One without lights. Let's search along the river side; there should be a personnel door there."

She led Jo along the side of the warehouse on the water side to where she thought there was a door with a small window in it. She soon found it and was relieved to see it was dark outside. No light. Annie took out the night vision monocular, cracked the door open a fraction and scanned carefully. She looked for guards or personnel of any kind. There were none. She verified they were located on the side of the building along the river. Annie estimated they were about 250 yards from the fence into the construction site where she worked during the day. She knew that site perfectly. If they were pursued, she would have a terrain knowledge advantage. Some deep pits had no guards around them. The down side was the distance with no real escape route other than jumping in the river. The plus was she didn't think there were many, if any, hostiles left, and if there were, they wouldn't be likely to look here in the next minute while they were exposed. She turned to Jo and said, "We'll go this way."

She put away the night vision monocular and took out the IR heat detector. She saw nothing that wasn't residual heat from the sun during the day. She whispered to Jo, "We're going down along this building toward the construction site. It's about 200 yards to the end of the building. I want to move as fast as we can. Can you run or jog?"

"At least jog."

"Good. There should be some cars parked there if we need a place to hide. There is also a way through the fence."

"Go at a fast jog. I'll watch our six."

They found several cars parked at the far end of the building, all cold. Annie checked all of them and found a big SUV that had its keys resting in the center console's drink holder. The passenger side window was open. Annie turned to Jo and said, "I'll get in the passenger's side through the open window and cross to the driver's side you get in the passenger's side through the window behind me."

"Door?"

"No. No lights. No noise."

"Oh. Right."

Annie hunkered down in the vehicle, called Joan who answered, "CIA Team is thirty seconds out, coming in on foot from the construction site. Call sign Alpha 4. You are Zulu 35."

"Tell the team leader Jo and I are in the white SUV by the south end of the warehouse right about where they should be coming through the fence."

"Yeah, Auggie has located both of you. The team is aware of your location." Joan was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Hold up your cell phone, or briefly open the car doors." Annie put the key in the ignition, rolled down the driver's side window and held up the glowing cell phone pointed generally toward the construction site. After a couple of seconds Joan said, "They have you."

Thirty seconds later, Annie heard a tap on the car door, sat up, and said, "Zulu 35."

The team leader replied, "Alpha 4."

Annie said, "Thank God you're here. I've left a pile of bodies in there, but there might be more of them. There is a closed door I didn't open and a hallway I didn't explore at the bottom of the stairs. You are going to have to clear the whole building. There is at least one in a sniper hide on the roof - if he isn't getting a communications check, he may be alerted that something is wrong and trying to find out what's going on. That's the only one I know about that's unaccounted for. But I didn't explore underground beyond getting Jo out of there. There may be more down there behind that closed door. I used a suppressed pistol; if there are more of them down there, and they are worker bees, they may not know anything has happened."

"Got it. Is this floor plan any good? Joan thought it might not be correct."

Annie studied it for a second and said, "It's not. Back up a bit, I need to get out of here. Got a pen?"

"Yes."

She had Jo hold her hand over the interior light, cracked the door just enough to slip out and reclosed it. She moved to the hood of the vehicle, spread out his floor plan and with just enough light from the adjacent construction site was able to mark it up with the approximate locations of piles of boxes and the stairs. She also told him the locations of the four bodies she'd left behind on the main floor. The team leader just grunted when she was done. So she said, "If you go down the stairs, here, you will find a body right at the bottom. To the right down the hall there is a room with five more bodies in it. There is the entrance to another room here, and the passage goes out of sight there. I didn't go in that room or farther down the hall. Once I had Jo, I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

"Agent Larson's body is probably in an acid barrel about there." She marked on the plan as she talked. "Okay?"

"Gezzus lady, is there anybody alive in there?"

"I don't think so. But there might be. If there are, it might be worth it to see if they can be taken alive. Or not."

"Yeah, right. Well, all right then. We'll go in there. If the FBI sends a team, use this comm. set to contact me, call sign Alpha 4, so we don't shoot each other." After that advisory he handed her a spare handset.

"Be careful not to contaminate the bodies - I can't testify without destroying my covert status so the evidence has to be undisturbed."

"Got it. Please don't laugh, but I have to ask, do you need me to leave a team member for protection?"

"No."

"Didn't think so. We'll be back, but I suspect the FBI will have someone here to pick you up soon."

With that, the team of five guys vanished into the dark along the river side of the building. Annie walked around the car to the window by Jo and asked, "How are you doing?"

"I've been better. I'm coming down. I feel like crap. You?"

"I'll crash later. I had a lot of action to burn off the adrenaline before I ever got to you. You have a phone number for Burke?"

"Yeah, give me your phone."

Jo dialed Agent Burk who answered, "Betty Lou?"

"It's Jo. We're both fine. Annie got me out. We're in a white SUV by the south end of the building. Is there an FBI team on the way in?"

"Yes. About forty minutes."

"Tell them to hold at my position. The CIA team is already in the warehouse, and we don't want them to run into each other in the dark."

"Give me a second - I need to alert them."

"I'll hold." She looked at Annie and said, "She's going to tell them to hold at our location if the CIA team isn't out by the time they get here." Jo listened for a second and said to Annie, "The HRT is still forty minutes out."

Annie picked up the handset and said, "Alpha 4, Zulu35. Be advised the FBI HRT is about forty minutes out. Can you clear the warehouse and be gone by the time they get here?"

The handset crackled with his reply, "Zulu35, Alpha 4. Understand HRT ETA 40 minutes. We'll be out before they arrive. We split up. Two of us just took down the guy on the roof. He is going to show us where the light switches are so we can light the place up and see what's going on. We have one man in the office; the other two are in the basement. I'm expecting to hear more from them in a minute. There is a whole underground bomb factory down here. Nobody in it though."

"Roger that. Zulu 35."

Jo put the phone on speaker and handed it to Annie who said, "Agent Burk?"

"I'm here."

"The CIA team will be gone in about thirty minutes. They have almost finished clearing the warehouse. They have one terrorist in custody. I'll have them leave him tied up down here where Jo and I can watch him."

"I'm on my way over."

"No. Do not come over here until the FBI team gets here. You do _not_ want to run into my team."

"Uh ... Okay. Let me know?"

"Ten-four. One more thing?"

"Yes?"

"I left two snipers tied up and one dead in buildings about five hundred yards away."

"Auggie told me. The Philly PD have picked them up. The one that was tied up on the roof is in Federal Custody in the hospital; the one under the stairs is in the emergency room - he may not make it. They were in bad shape. The other one went to the morgue."

"Okay. Didn't want to leave them there if they were still alive. I wasn't sure they would be."

"No problem. Anything else?

"Not right now."

"Give me a call when your team leaves."

"Will do. You want to talk to Jo?"

"Yes, for just a moment. Jo?"

"Yeah."

"You okay?"

"Not really, but I will be. Annie got to me," her voice faltered noticeably before she continued, "just seconds after they started on me."

"Talk later?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Call when the CIA guys leave."

"Okay." Jo said and ended the call. She stared straight ahead for a moment then said, "Do you always feel this crappy after something like this goes down?"

"Pretty much, yes. I feel awful and hollow inside at the moment, like my soul has been yanked from my body and burned to a crisp. I feel like I could puke my guts out, but I'm fighting it. I'll get over it, but this is by far the worst night of my life. The only light in my life right now is that you are alive and apparently still in your right mind. Jo, I wasn't sure what I was going to find when I heard those screams."

"That first electric shock was horrible; the second one was worse - I thought my body was going to rip itself apart. It doesn't feel normal now, so it may have done some damage. I'm glad they are dead. If you hadn't killed them, I would have. I had an almost overpowering urge to empty the Glock into their dead bodies. I've never been in such a rage. I was both energized and numb. It was like living in a real time nightmare."

"It was worse than a real time nightmare. But, Jo, don't let it consume you. Don't let it define you. Get professional help as soon as you can. That's what I do. Unfortunately, my best help is at Langley. Speaking of which, I better check in while I'm still coherent."

Annie dialed Joan's number. When it picked up, she heard what sounded like aircraft noises and asked, Joan, "Where are you?"

"In the air. I'll be there in two hours. Burk is going to pick you and Jo up and take you to the FBI HQ in Philadelphia. The FBI OPR will meet you there; they've been told not to come to the site until it's cleared by the HRT. She will get you in as Agent Tarantino. They will confiscate your weapon and ammunition. As far as the FBI is concerned you will be on administrative leave till after the shooting review board."

"How long will that take?"

"Nobody knows. They've never had one for a situation like this. Don't worry about it."

"Yeah. Right. How will you get in?"

"She will get us in through the back door. See you there."

Annie answered, "Okay ..." before she realized the call had ended.

She and Jo stayed silent for the next several minutes, each occupied with their own thoughts. The comm. set crackled and Annie heard the CIA team lead say, "Zulu 35, Alpha 4. We're approaching your location. We come in peace."

She replied, "Clear."

Then she heard voices approaching from the warehouse, it was the CIA team with their prisoner.

When they got close the team leader called out, "Agents Tarantino and Bell, we have your prisoner."

Annie replied, "Please cuff his hands together behind him, his feet together, then lay him down on his stomach and cuff both of them to his belt. I want him completely immobilized. I'm in no mood to mess with him right now. Neither is Agent Bell."

"Will do." When the man was restrained, the team leader came over and said, "You had yourself one hell of a time in there. I counted ten bodies in there; plus I heard there was one more body and two more tied up out in the sniper hides you apparently found."

Jo said, "Sniper hides?"

"Yeah, your one woman HRT took out three terrorists at two sniper stations on roofs about five hundred yards out before she came in here after you. She tied up two of them. The third one didn't need it."

"I didn't know."

"Okay, Agents, we need to get out of here, the FBI will be here in about five minutes. Best if we don't encounter each other."

"Thanks guys. Be safe."

"No thanks required, we did almost nothing. We're outta here."

They left a couple of minutes later; Annie heard them drive out. She called Agent Burk and said, "It's just Jo, a prisoner, and myself here now. The warehouse is cleared."

"I saw their SUV's leave; I'll be there in two minutes."

True to her word Annie heard Burk call out, "Betty Lou, Jo, I'm coming through the fence. I'm alone."

Annie saw the shadows move, Jo must have seen it too because they both jerked a little even though they both knew it was Burk. Annie called out, surprised to hear the tremor in her voice, "I see you; we're standing by the white SUV. The prisoner is restrained and lying on the ground a few feet away."

Agent Burk approached and walked over to stand in front of them. Even in the shadows, it occurred to Annie that she looked a lot fresher than she and Jo looked, or felt, for that matter.

Burk said, "Jo, do you need medical attention? Annie are you okay? I got a thirty second dump from your team leader, Annie; it sounds like you two survived the house of horrors."

Annie found herself a bit tongue-tied: Jo responded first, "I think I'm okay for tonight. I should probably get checked over tomorrow. The electric shock might have done some damage, but, at the moment, I'm only uncomfortable. Mostly my shoulders are stiff and ache from hanging there for an hour or so, but I'm not really in pain. Annie?"

"I feel pretty awful right now. I thought I had enough activity to work off the adrenaline but apparently not. Oh ... urgwaaaaa ... 'scuse me." She turned, lunged toward the fence, and was violently ill. She was grateful Agents Burk and Bell stayed back and gave her some privacy. She recovered, her mouth tasting awful, turned back to them and said, "Sorry about that. I-

"No problem. Let it go." Burk interjected.

"Thanks. I hope Joan gets here soon. I wish she'd bring Auggie. Megan, tonight was the worst experience of my life. Jo's safe and still in her right mind, so it was worth it."

Jo said, "Larson and I have some of the blame. We agreed to go in there. We should have refused."

Annie stumbled back to the front of the SUV and leaned on it. She wasn't ready for this discussion. She just needed for this to be over. To be somewhere else. She said, "Guys, stop it. Nassir is to blame for this. Nobody else. I don't think he was in there; where is he? Have you got him?"

Burk replied, "Yes, Philly SWAT arrested him just before I came through that fence."

Just then Burk's phone rang, "Burk ... Okay, good ... We're on the other side of that fence right ahead of you. Thanks for the heads up."

"That was the HRT Team leader, Supervisory Special Agent Gus Rogers. He'll be coming through that fence with his team any second now. Yeah, I see motion."

Annie saw the motion and forced herself to stay calm. Her memory of the last time she encountered a FBI 'Team" just made her want to run. Apparently Agent Burk could see her nervousness because she said, "They know the fight's over. Gus was briefed by your team leader and knows the situation, and that we are the good guys."

Annie heard her and wanted to relax. It was made easier when she saw Agent Rogers approaching with empty hands. She leaned to look around him, and he stepped aside to make it easier. As they came into view, she could see all of them had empty hands. Annie said, "Thanks. That helps."

Burk made the initial introduction, "Agents Tarantino and Bell, meet Supervisory Special Agent Gus Rogers. Gus and I went through the academy together more years ago than we want to admit."

Rogers stepped forward holding out his hand and said, "Call me Gus."

As he shook Annie's hand she said, "Call me Betty Lou."

When it was her turn Bell said, "Call me Jo."

Gus stood quietly for a moment, and Annie knew she was being sized up. He finally said, "The leader of the CIA team that was here, he called himself Alpha 4, gave me a quick debrief on what's inside. He said they cleared the whole building."

Annie knew then he had no clue about her true identity, so she said, "Yes. They brought us the guy you see lying there. He was in a sniper station on the roof. He's the only survivor of those who were in the warehouse. I'd appreciate it if you would go do a sweep and get some pictures and video of what's in the underground part I didn't take time to explore. I just wanted to get Bell out alive."

"Agent Burk, you agree?"

"Oh yeah. Please. We need to know what's in that basement to make this whole mission worth it."

"Okay. The rest of the team are Ted Trudel here, Jack Zher, Jack Hobbs, Irwin Goldstein, and our sniper Rod Cohn." Annie, Jo, and Burk shook hands with them after which Gus continued, "I'll leave Rod here as protection. Be back in a few minutes. As soon as we get this cleared I'd like to call in our crime scene people, and we have to bring in the Philadelphia PD. I'm pretty sure the FBI powers that be want you out of here, Betty Lou, before the PD arrives."

"Me too."

Annie remembered the map the CIA team lead had left with her and said, "Gus, take this. It's the most accurate floor plan we have at the moment."

Gus pulled out his red flash light and looked it over, said, "Thanks, this helps. Be back in a few."

With that, he and the other four team members vanished into the shadows alongside the building.

Annie was reassured when she saw Rod move to a slightly better vantage point and start scanning.

He and Annie both heard a sound coming from the construction site and ducked back towards the SUV. Rod grabbed the prisoner and dragged him to a position of cover as if he were weightless. Annie had her night vision monocular and infrared scanner out and said, "One person, coming in the same path you did. We have good cover. You decide what to do."

Rod whispered, "Roger that," and pointed his M4 in the direction of the invader. Annie could see he had a light mounted just above his hand on the forward grip. The man made a lot of noise, clearly not trying for stealth, and finally stumbled into view. He was a moving, darker shadow against a grey backdrop from city lighting. Rod triggered his light which was brighter than Annie would have thought possible in such a small package. She saw a heavyset man dressed in a suit that reflexively put his empty hands up in front of his face.

Burk said, "Hold your fire. That's Agent Ed Weisner from the Office Of Professional Responsibility." Raising her voice to be sure he heard, she said, "Ed, what are you doing here? You almost got yourself shot. You're supposed to meet us at the office."

"Supervisory Special Agent In Charge, Mark Ross, ordered me to come here, arrest and interrogate Agent Tarantino before she had time to change her story." He turned toward Annie, stepped forward, and reached for her.

Annie, still in a hyperactive alert and defensive state reacted out of pure instinct and training - two seconds later Agent Weisner was on the ground in agony with his arm bent painfully up behind his neck. Annie growled in his ear, "Rod stay back. Weisner you stay right there; got it? Don't try to touch me or you will bleed. I won't warn you again."

Rod took a step back and said, "Gezzzus, Weisner, the lady is still on the trailing edge of an adrenaline rage of unparalled intensity. I would advise giving her space and not making any fast movements."

Weisner sputtered, "I'll have your badge for this Tarantino. I have orders-"

Annie felt herself losing it. She felt the heat of rage flow all over again and fought the urge to rip this idiot's arm right off or just snap his neck to shut him up. Barely in control, she responded, "Shut. The. Fuck. Up. I've had about enough of Ross and his ignorant idiot minions. I had to kill a whole fucking bunch of people because that stupid asshole Ross made a huge mistake. Agent Bell here was tortured and damn near killed because of it. Go arrest that asshole Ross if you want someone to blame. You try to touch me again I'll send you to the God damn emergency room in bits and pieces. You got it?"

Weisner grunted out, "You can't talk to me like that. I'm from OPR." Agent Cohn, arrest her."

"Oh no. My team's orders, which came from The Director before we left Quantico, were to get Agent Tarantino safely out of here to the Philadelphia HQ, or if she was injured, to the nearest hospital. Arresting her wasn't on the list of options. You're on your own, and you don't seem to be doing all that well. Betty Lou, now might be the time to use that phone number I know you have."

Annie had cooled down enough to start to think clearly. She didn't regret a thing she's just said and done, but she decided she ought to let the idiot get up, ruined suit and all. She said, "Thanks Rod. I'll keep the number in reserve. Agent Weisner, are you listening?"

"I don't have to listen to-" He screamed, then said, "Argggggggggggg, that hurts! I'll listen!"

"Okay. I'm going to let you get up. I want you to walk back through that fence and crawl back under whatever flat rock you left when you came here. I don't want to see you ever again. Am I clear?"

"You can't-" he let out an anguished howl as Annie tightened her hold.

"Stop telling me what I can't do. Am. I. Clear?"

"Yes, you're clear."

"So you're trainable after all. I was beginning to wonder."

She released him and stepped back. He got slowly to his feet and said, "This isn't over."

Annie said, quietly, "For you and Ross it is. Now leave before I change my mind. I'm in a pretty bad mood right now. Best if you are gone."

When Weisner was gone, Rod said, "I'm picking up that you are a bit of a loose cannon Tarantino."

Her head snapped in his direction, and he added, "Don't worry, I like it. You remind me of me when I was younger. Gus will like it too."

Annie spun around and listened intently only to hear, Gus Rogers voice say, "What will Gus like?"

"Betty Lou, here, just threw Eddie The Weasel on the ground, thoroughly messed up his suit, and sent him on his way."

"Oh, I'd have liked to see that. We're all going to be jealous. Good thing Eddie didn't go in the warehouse; he'd have lost his mind. Betty Lou, you had yourself a pretty rough night. Burk, why don't you take Tarantino and Bell and get out of here. We've got this. I'll get the Philly ME in to pick up the bodies. I'll also call the Philly PD in here to do the forensics. This is pretty straightforward; there's just a whole lot of it. They will need pretty much every criminalist they have for the next two days."

Agent Bell, "Are you sure you are okay? I saw where they had you. They had some evil looking electric shock equipment there."

Jo replied, "It didn't just look evil." She turned to Burk and said, "Agent Burk, can you get Betty Lou and me out of here now? Please. I'm exhausted. So is Betty Lou. She's swaying on her feet."

Annie braced herself against the SUV and said, "Please. I'm going to take my truck back to my apartment, if we don't leave in about one minute. I can't even think straight." She looked at Burk and then said, "The hell with it, I'm leaving. Coming Jo?"

"Oh yeah." And the two of them headed for the opening in the fence.

Agent Burk said, "Wait for me."

Annie replied, "You're on your own. We'll meet you at the office." Just as she and Jo slid into the shadows.

Annie learned later from Jo, that Rogers had said to Burk, "Meg, have you been in there? She took down a whole bloody platoon of terrorists. They were all armed. Every single one. Two of them have broken necks, the rest were all shot in the head. Rossabi told us she took down two sniper stations before she got here. Who is she? Why have I never heard of her before now?"

Megan had told him, "You have heard of her. She's the woman who took down the two terrorists in the restaurant in Carlisle and the third one south of town. Beyond that, all I know is she has The Director on speed dial, is on a first name basis with his secretary and his personal assistant. Can reach him by phone even if he's flying on his jet and get right through. Oh, and she was assigned to this taskforce by The Director himself, personally. Ross was a fool to challenge her."

Gus's last word before Megan had left to catch up with Annie and Jo had been, "Well, whatever you do. Don't piss her off."

Megan had just said, "I won't," and left to try and catch up with Annie and Jo.

* * *

**EN:** If you have a moment, a word or two of comment would be much appreciated. Like it? Don't like it? Something that wasn't credible? Please let me hear from you even if it's only one or two words. There is a sequel to this story that is taking shape. It will be set to take place after this story and following season 4. That is, Season 4 occurs between the end of this story and the beginning of the sequel. Any feedback will be useful.


	15. Chapter 15: Aftermath

The Third Man / FW

11

**AN: **Once again many thanks to my team of mentors and reviewers: AleciaB, Patricia, and Gwynne.

Today is Veteran's Day. I decided to release this chapter a few days early to celebrate.

To my fellow Veteran's, thank you for your service. To those who never returned, we remember you, and we honor your sacrifice.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Aftermath.**

**Previously:**

_Annie learned later from Jo, that Rogers had said to Burk, "Meg, have you been in there? She took down a whole bloody platoon of terrorists. They were all armed. Every single one. Two of them have broken necks, the rest were all shot in the head. Rossabi told us she took down two sniper stations before she got here. Who is she? Why have I never heard of her before now?"_

_Megan told him, "You have heard of her. She's the woman who took down the two terrorists in the restaurant in Carlisle, and the third one south of town. Beyond that, all I know is she has The Director on speed dial, is on a first name basis with his secretary and his personal assistant. Can reach him by phone even if he's flying on his jet and get right through. Oh, and she was assigned to this taskforce by The Director himself, personally. Ross was a fool to challenge her."_

_Gus's last word before Megan had left to catch up with Annie and Jo had been, "Well, whatever you do. Don't piss her off."_

_Megan had just said, "Gus, you have no idea," and left to try and catch up with Annie and Jo. _

**3:00 a.m. Saturday, Day 20: Construction site parking lot.**

Annie heard running noises behind her, and then Megan called out, "Jo, Betty Lou, wait a minute. My car's right there. I'll drive."

Jo stopped, so did Annie. They looked at each other, then in Burk's direction, then back at each other. Annie saw the tension in Jo's shoulders ease a bit and said, "I'm good with that."

"Me too." They waited silently for Agent Burk to catch up.

Megan said, "My car's right over here," and moved to a car that Annie thought she recognized, unlocked it, and got in. Annie got in the back seat. Jo got in front on the passenger's side.

Just as Agent Burk started the car, the other back door jerked open; Weisner jumped in and tried to snap handcuffs on Annie. She reacted instantly – a totally violent reflex; smashed a punch into his face that landed with a sickening crunch. His nose splattered into a bloody mess. Momentarily stunned, he was helpless when she grabbed a hand full of shirt and wrenched on his ear hard enough that she nearly ripped it off as she twisted him around pushed him face down on the seat. She smashed a knee behind his head so it forced him face down on the back seat. He screamed, and his breath sprayed blood everyplace. She ended up sitting on top of him, wide-eyed, and breathing hard. His own handcuffs held his wrists together behind his back. She had managed to stop herself before delivering a fatal blow to the back of his neck, but it had been a close thing. Too close. She braced her hands on the back of the front and rear seats and became violently ill again. In the back of her mind, her misery was slightly relieved by the fact that she was vomiting all over Weisner's head.

Burk and Bell sat stunned in the front seat. Jo had managed to turn in her seat but the struggle was over before she could do anything.

Suddenly Jo started to laugh hysterically. Burk, after a moment, burst into uncontrollable laughter as well. It was contagious because suddenly their laughter penetrated the red haze of anger that was consuming Annie, and in one of those moments remembered for the rest of one's life, she convulsed into laughter as well. Weisner, handcuffed and lying in a small puddle of vomit, apparently knew instantly that his career was over. He began to sob; he'd probably figured out he'd never be taken seriously again.

It just made the three women laugh harder.

After what seemed to Annie like forever, but was in reality probably only a couple of minutes, Annie started to get herself under control. She managed to suppress the giggles that threatened to restart and said, "My gosh, but I feel better after that. What do we do with him? He smells awful."

Burk said, "I'd vote for walking him to his car, taking the cuffs off, and making sure he drives away."

"Me too," said Jo.

"Make it so, Agent Bell," Annie said. "I don't trust myself to do it without him getting hurt ... again. The guy isn't trainable."

About this time Weisner said, "SSAIC Ross told me to arrest you, or he'd force me to resign."

Burk said, "You're going to resign anyway now. I'd suggest taking early retirement if they will let you. Your career is in the trash. Betty Lou, let him out; Jo and I will walk him to his car. If he can't drive, we'll call the paramedics."

A few minutes later, with the three of them in Annie's truck, Annie said, "Can we stop by my apartment, It's on the way. I want to get some clean clothes. These have Weisner's blood and vomit and the smell of death on them. I don't want to spend the rest of the night in them.

Burk said, "Sure. You're driving."

Jo said from behind them, "You may have to remove a seat to get me out of here."

"Don't worry," Annie said. "We'll pry you out if necessary. Come on in and decompress for a few minutes."

The stop helped. Annie washed her face and changed into jeans and a T-shirt. Her friends each took a turn in the bath when Annie finished.

Annie stuck the CrossBreed Super Tuck holster in the waistband at 4 o'clock and slid her Glock 26 into it. Dropped a spare magazine into her left front pocket, stuck her slim package of ID, permits, bank card and FBI credentials into her left rear pocket. Then she added a decorative vest, the same one she'd worn that morning in the Carlisle restaurant, to cover the gun. _Been a heck of a month, _she thought. She put the other guns she'd used and the suppressor in a separate tote bag to give to OPR.

It had only taken about fifteen minutes, but the stop perked her up a lot. She grabbed a handful of granola bars out of a cupboard and a Coke out of the fridge. Turned to Megan and Jo and asked, "You guys want something: granola bar? Coke?"

Jo said, "Yeah. Please."

So Annie handed her the case: she took a bar out of it, handed it back, ripped open the wrapper, bit it in half and looked like she would swoon with pleasure. Annie's feeling was confirmed when Jo said, around a mouthful of bar, "These are good. Gimme 'nother one."

Annie tossed her two more and then grabbed another Coke out of the refrigerator and passed that to a receptive Jo. She looked at Burk who said, "I'm good."

Annie tossed her keys to Megan and said, "You drive, I'm going to eat this stuff before we get there. At least if Weisner shows up again I'll have more ammunition."

All three of them laughed. Annie and Jo with shiny eyes and hands over their mouths to keep the granola bar inside.

**4:00 a.m. Saturday, Day 20: FBI Philadelphia Office Conference Room.**

Annie waited in the Philadelphia FBI office conference room with Agents Burk and Bell. She was much better since getting cleaned up, and at least the Granola bars and Coke had put something into her stomach. She just felt emotionally drained and soulless. They waited in silence for Joan Campbell, SSA Rossabi and possibly Ross to arrive.

The OPR had sent in two polite women to ask Annie a few questions. It was agreed that she could make her statement to them later, or maybe the walk through at the warehouse would take the place of it. Annie was suspicious of them until they mentioned that they'd been called in to replace Agent Weisner who was having medical problems. There was a definite twinkle in their eyes when they said it. They took her Glock 19 and the other stuff in the tote bag. They also took the Glock and suppressor Jo'd had but not used.

Jo would get up and stretch every few minutes - apparently in an effort to get her shoulders to stop aching. From what Annie could see, it didn't work. She thought Jo should be getting checked in an ER but didn't say anything.

Annie thought, _here we are. Full circle. We're gathered back in the room where the big mistakes were made. Where Larson was in effect sent to his death and Jo into the worst experience of her life. I hope Joan can find a way to forgive me and keep me out of jail. None of them were shot in the back, but one of them was shot lying on the floor. At least I had enough action to work off most of the adrenaline before it was over. I may be in the most trouble for what I did to that OPR idiot. I could really use some sleep. I hope I can sleep. I wish Joan had agreed to bring Auggie. At least I still have my backup gun. Oh my God, I bet they don't even know I have my backup gun. They didn't search me. The OPR gals weren't happy with me, but they weren't particularly upset either. I don't think Weisner has many friends. How's that for understatement? The first one was insufferable; the rest were polite. Especially since I agreed to give them a statement after I had a chance to calm down and figure out what was real about what I think I remember. _

_I wonder how long the review will take. I'll be here for at least days, maybe weeks, while they sort it out. I don't even know how many I killed - if neither of the snipers dies, I think it's ten. Nobody has told me for sure if the first sniper or that guy I left under the stairs made it._ Her musing was interrupted when one of the other agents in the office escorted Rossabi, Joan, and Auggie into the room.

Annie had automatically taken a seat that allowed her to have a direct view of anybody entering the room. That, unfortunately, put her on the opposite side of the table from where Auggie had entered the room just behind Rossabi and Joan. Joan was acting as his sighted guide.

When she saw Auggie, saw the expression of fear for her well-being on his face, she stood, and said, "Auggie, I'm coming to you." She headed around the room in his direction. Pushing past Joan and Rossabi, she wrapped him up in a big hug. They stayed like that for a few seconds, and then she turned her face up for a kiss. She pulled back while Auggie touched her face and arms and was about to check more when she said, "You can look at me later, Auggie. I'm okay. They never laid a glove on me."

Joan coughed, Agent Burk chuckled, and then Annie said, "Pay them no attention." She stepped back into his arms and turned her face up for a second much needed kiss. Their reunion was over in another twenty seconds, but it was a different Annie that led a much relieved Auggie back around the table to sit next to her.

Annie looked at Joan but couldn't read much on her face. She had on her poker face and wasn't letting anything show. She stayed neutral through the debrief Annie and Jo gave them. Annie started with her meeting with Jo and described how she persuaded her to accept the locator being injected in her thigh. Burk had questioned the locator, but Jo said she agreed to it and was really glad she had it. Annie finished with them riding out of the site in her truck. It took the better part of three hours for her to tell the story, including the half-hour they lost because Ross arrived late.

Ross had arrived half-an-hour into the debrief and tried to take control of the meeting after the fact. He came in, interrupted Annie in mid-sentence with the announcement, "Agent Tarantino, I'll take over now." He had turned to Joan and continued, "You must be the one they call Ms. Campbell. I saw your name on the sign in sheet. I've no idea what a civilian is doing here, but they told me you were cleared by The Director's office. You," he turned to Auggie, "are Mr. Anderson. You are also cleared. This is an FBI operation. What are you civilians doing here?"

Joan said, "I was invited to attend by Agents Rossabi and Burk. But I'd gladly be someplace else. Tarantino, Anderson, grab your stuff; we are no longer needed here."

"What? Where do you think you are going?"

"You asked what I was doing here. Since you don't know, I'm not going to tell you. None of us want to be here; we're leaving."

Annie and Auggie had risen as one from their chairs, Annie had her note pad and pen in hand and was about to lead Auggie to the door when Ross said, "Agent Tarantino, I haven't dismissed you yet."

Joan looked right through him and said, "Agent Ross, the three of us are leaving. Do not try to detain us."

Annie had glanced at Agents Burk and Rossabi and could tell they really wanted to hear the story of the night's events before it was all wrapped in political packaging. It occurred to Annie that she wanted those two on her side. She understood that it was important to get the real story out there before it got corrupted. She knew how important first impressions were. Especially in bureaucracies.

So Annie said, "Joan, I'd really like to take you, Agent Rossabi and Agent Burk through this once, very briefly, so you know what happened and why it happened, from my point of view. Agent Bell was there as well and right now, four hours after the event, our recollections should be pretty good. We have calmed down, and you are likely to get as accurate a report as we can give."

Ross said, "Agent Tarantino, you are probably going to be in jail the rest of your life. Near as I can tell you killed nine people, three of them with your bare hands."

Annie replied, "It was ten dead plus three in the hospital if you count Agent Weisner. Auggie, you have the tracking data on Jo and my locator implants?"

"Auggie? Who the hell is an Auggie?" Ross asked.

Joan turned to Agent Burk and said, "Arrogant asshole or not, at this point he needs to be read in."

Burk replied, "If you can authorize it, I agree. Otherwise we should stop this now and have you get whatever you need."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Ross shouted.

Joan turned to Ross and said, very quietly, "Agent Ross, what I'm about to tell you is classified way beyond top secret. If you ever reveal it to anyone who isn't cleared, or who doesn't have a defined need to know in the interest of national security, you will be prosecuted for treason. Do you understand what I've just told you?"

"What are you talking about? What secrets?"

"Answer my question."

"Yes, yes, I understand. What's the big secret?"

Joan opened her brief case and said, "Sign this document and I'll tell you."

"I'm not signing anything."

"Agent Burk, we're outta her."

"Okay, what is it you want me to sign?"

"An official federal non-disclosure form. It is your signature saying you agree to what I've just told you: that you won't reveal any of what I'm going to tell you to anyone, and that includes the FBI Office Of Professional Responsibility."

Joan slid the paper across the table; Ross signed it and pushed it back. Joan looked at Jo and said, "Agent Bell, please don't be insulted, but would you be willing to make a copy for Agents Ross, Rossabi and Burk and return the original to me? I don't want anyone else to handle this paper."

"Of course. Sure, just take a minute."

Jo left and Ross said, "So what's the big secret."

"Wait till Jo gets back with the paper."

"Why don't Agent's Rossabi, Bell, and Burk have to sign one?"

"They already did."

"So they've known this for a while?"

"Since more than two weeks before this mission started."

They sat in silence for another two minutes. Then Jo returned and passed out the copies. Joan took hers, put it in her briefcase, and then said, "Supervisory Special Agent Ross, meet United States Central Intelligence Agency Covert Officer Annie Walker, who is working undercover as FBI Agent Elizabeth Louise Tarantino."

"What? You're a spy? How can that be? It's illegal for the CIA to work or carry guns inside the country."

Agent Burk said, "Actually, it isn't if they are officially assigned to support the FBI and that agreement is sanctioned by a court order signed by a Federal judge."

"A Federal Judge okayed Agent Tarantino ... Walker ... whoever you are, to masquerade as an FBI Agent?"

Burk replied, "Yes. Joan, myself, and Agents Burk and Rossabi, the directors of the CIA and FBI all have copies of that court order. So does Ms. Walker. Plus, you know very well from the telephone call to The Director last Wednesday, he knew exactly who and what she was."

"I want you to know she assaulted me!"

Agent Burk said, "No, actually she didn't. You tried to hit her, and she put you in a restraining hold. Remember, we were there; we saw it. We heard you apologize for trying to punch her."

"How could she be sanctioned? I'm the Supervisory Special Agent In Charge and I didn't know about it."

"She reported to me," Agent Rossabi replied.

"So nobody knew but you?"

Agent Burk said, "I'll answer that. I knew she was CIA because I was the FBI Agent In Charge of the shooting out at the Middleburg Diner. I met her at the diner because Ms. Walker was the shooter that took down the terrorists."

Agent Ross blustered, "I thought, from the meeting she was FBI on vacation when she did that. How could she have done that when she's CIA? She can't carry a gun. She should have been arrested."

Joan said, "You are wrong. She can carry a gun when she is off duty. She has all the permits required. She was on vacation and happened to be legally carrying when those terrorists staged their attack on a restaurant full of innocent civilians."

Agent Ross turned to Annie and said, "Please continue your story. I'll be interested to hear how you managed to pull off a miracle."

"It wasn't a miracle; it was ugly, dangerous, sickening, and totally unnecessary if you had listened to what I told you."

"Why should I have listened to a Junior Agent?"

"If your career isn't already over, you would be well-advised to learn to recognize the right answer when you hear it, no matter who you hear it from." Annie said. Then she added, "Joan, I'd really like to go back to my apartment. This bureaucratic jackass is wearing me out, and I'm going to crash soon."

Joan turned to Agent Rossabi and said, "Can we get her out of here? She's had one hell of a day. Two days actually."

Agent Rossabi made a counter offer, "Ms Walker, Joan, if I throw Agent Ross out of here and the rest of us agree to just listen, could you please give us a quick debrief: just the essentials?"

Joan looked at Annie who sighed and said, "Yes, if you get him out of here. I wish you had made that offer before you read him in. I'm not comfortable with him knowing my true identity, but it's too late for that now."

Rossabi turned to Agent Ross and said, "Leave. Close the door behind you. And don't come back."

When Ross didn't move, Annie stood up. Agent Rossabi was quick to say, "Ms. Walker, please-"

Annie interjected, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to throw him out on his ass. He'll live, but he may bleed a lot."

Ross looked fearful for the first time and said, "I'm leaving."

With Ross gone and the door shut, Annie turned back to Auggie and asked, "Auggie, do you have the data from Jo's locator, my locator, and the audio data from bugs I planted?"

"Yes, right here on this laptop. I have a copy of it back in Langley too."

Annie turned to Rossabi and said, "Agent Rossabi, the locator data together with the audio data, the forensic evidence, and the fact that they had illegally detained and were starting to torture Agent Bell, and killed Agent Larson, will completely clear me of any wrong doing. Our locators won't be valid for when we were in that basement, but Jo was there so you have both our stories about what happened down there. They were all killed in self-defense or to prevent death or grievous injury to Agent Bell. None of them were shot in the back. One was shot lying on the floor, but he was trying to shoot me at the time."

"Ms. Walker, I believe you. Gus took me on a whirlwind tour of the warehouse. Please just talk us through what happened - Mr. Anderson, you can record what she says on your iPhone, right?"

"Yes, but you could record it too."

"I don't want to. I want you and Ms. Walker to take what she tells us, what Jo tells us, put it together with the data you have, and turn it into a documented story. A story supported by evidence of what happened last night. Ms. Walker, if you will then read it back to us in a deposition and sign it, I will use that in place of your testimony to preserve your covert status."

"Thank you, Agent Rossabi."

"Don't thank me quite yet. I will also need to have you, accompanied by whomever you want with you, to take us on a walk through, in the warehouse, of what happened and how it happened. The two Agents you just met from OPR will be there. You will do the walk through as Agent Tarantino because they are not read in on your true status."

"I can do that but not till tomorrow, today, this afternoon? I'm losing it. I desperately need to get some sleep. I'd like it if Jo, Agent Rossabi and Agent Burk could come with me."

"Thanks. Okay, Ms. Walker, please start from the beginning."

Annie sighed but started over and told the story from beginning to end. As promised, none of the audience asked any questions. Then Jo told her story from her meeting with Annie and the locator implant. She told them about being captured and seeing Larson shot. Being stripped and hung from the ceiling. Her voice had gotten weaker and weaker. Then she'd stopped, and Annie could see her retreating into the room where she'd been tied up and the horror of what came next."

Annie walked around the table and sat on a chair facing Jo. Then she said, "Jo, look at me. Look at my eyes, Jo. You're safe. Look at me." When Jo's eyes focused on hers, Annie said, "Skip to the part where you first saw me. You never have to tell anyone about the other if you don't want to." She waited, saw Jo losing focus again and gently said, "Jo, it's Annie. You're safe." Annie knew she had Jo back when Jo's eyes focused on hers and then shifted to the others in the room.

Jo took a breath, nodded, and said, "I saw a black head appear for just a second in the doorway. Then it went away, and I wasn't sure I'd really seen it. They had ... they had ..." She dropped her head into her hands and made an awful noise. Annie reached out, touched her hand, and moved back. Jo looked at her and said, "I didn't know it was you. This person dressed all in black came into the door and started killing like the angel of death. Fingers of death all around me. All I saw was exploding heads, blood and confusion - I thought ... I thought ... I don't know what I thought. But when the confusion stopped, I was still alive, and they were all dead."

"Then you uncovered your face, and it was you." Jo stopped again; her eyes filled up and tears poured down her face. Her voice gradually gained in confidence as she said, "It took me till I was dressed to come to terms with the fact that I might live. I'd accepted the fact that they were going to kill me. In my head, I was dead. God, Annie. How can I ever ... They could have ... You were ... I ... just ... thank you. Thank you so much. I can't tell you how that rescue felt."

Annie said quietly, "You don't have to. I already know."

By the time they were done Agents Burk and Rossabi looked numb. Joan looked at her with what looked like amazement. Jo, who had seen a big part of it first hand, had regained some of her composure. Annie was encouraged that she was studying the others. Auggie had his hand on her back most of the time to let her know he was there for her. His only reaction had been to make some sounds of approval and relief.

Rossabi said, "You're lucky to be alive. Both of you."

Annie and Jo said simultaneously, "We know." Then looked at each other and almost smiled.

Rossabi said, "I need a few minutes with Agents Bell and Burk."

Annie said, "I saw a snack room with vending machines on the way in, can we go there unescorted?"

Rossabi said, "Yes. You can use the girl's room that's between here and there too. Heck, Annie, you're officially FBI Special Agent Tarantino; put on your badge; go where you want. You can be their escort."

Annie said, "Thank you," brushed Auggie's hand and they left with Joan right behind them.

Agent Rossabi waited until they were out of the room, turned to Jo, and said, "Agent Bell, I am truly sorry you had to go through that. I had no idea Ross and Larson were so inept or that Ms. Walker had anything like the adeptness with violence she just described, and you validated. I knew what she did in Carlisle, but this took her competence to a whole new level. You ... we ... were lucky she was willing to do what she did. We need to go the extra mile to protect her from the fallout that's likely if Ross has his way."

He hesitated, and then he said, "I'll get DHS in here to take credit for the interagency cooperation. I think we need to say something about CIA involvement, but we can't let Ms. Walker's name get in the press as either herself or Agent Tarantino. Jo, we will need to come up with a cover story. We may need your help to do it. Would you be willing to take credit for taking them down?"

"No sir. With all due respect, sir, I can't even _pretend_ to have done that and make it convincing. I'd be on every talking head show in the country tomorrow if that becomes the story. I'd be besieged with book offers. Or offers to tell my story. I simply can't do it. I won't do it. I won't turn my life into a lie. You need to go to the warehouse before they clean it up and see it firsthand. It's a slaughterhouse. That woman took on a whole armed and viciously hostile terrorist cell single handed, in the dark, and killed them. To save me. I won't take that from her.

She paused a moment to collect her thoughts and then said, "Can't we just say the FBI in cooperation with the CIA took down a major terrorist cell and let it go at that? There aren't any cameras. There was no public like there was in the restaurant. The only living witnesses are Annie and me. All the shots were silenced, so there were no sounds of the gun battle. This was pretty much all done in house. The data is all under our jurisdiction, under our control. Almost everybody but Nassir is dead or in jail. And Annie was functioning as an FBI Special Agent, complete with ID, when she did it. We can keep her out of the press altogether by saying undercover anti-terrorist operatives can't be in the press. I'm almost certain, after the performance in Ross's fiasco of a meeting, that The FBI Director and the DCI will back it. Can't we do that?"

Rossabi listened with attention, and following a moment's thought, he said, "Agent Burk?"

Megan replied, "I agree a hundred percent with Jo. In addition, I think we can sell that. Let me go find our spies and ask them."

When Megan returned with Joan, Auggie and Annie, she closed the door and said, "We have a cover story idea to try on you." She explained it and then asked, "would that work for you guys?"

Joan said, "That works for me. It's simple. Simple is good."

Annie answered saying, "I agree. You do it; I'll swear to it."

Rossabi said, "Good. We can do this."

Annie finally said, "It's almost 7:00 a.m. People are going to be arriving even though it's Saturday. Can we please be done here?"

Rossabi said, "Definitely. I need to talk with Agents Burk and Bell. Agent Tarantino, would you escort our guests out? I'll call you some time after noon to arrange for the warehouse walk through if the forensic people are done. I'll keep OPR off your back. The Director was livid with anger when he heard what Weisner did. He also said to tell you 'thank you' from him."

"Agent Rossabi, I'll call you. I want to sleep until I wake up. I'd like it if Jo and Agent Burk would come on the tour with me. I think having Joan and Auggie there with the OPR people might end up with their and my covers blown. Those women were polite, but they're plenty smart, and unless I miss my guess, they have an agenda."

"Deal."

With the CIA contingent gone, Rossabi closed the door, looked in Jo's direction, and asked, "You've the advantage on all of us. You've seen Ms. Walker in action. Is she as good as it sounds like she is?"

Jo looked at him for a moment and said, "You've known her longer than I have. But if you want my assessment of her, for what little it's worth, I'll give it to you."

"I do."

"She's scary smart. I don't mean just street smart; she has serious brainpower. She has a memory like fly paper. She has a combat skill set that Rambo would be jealous of. She came into that room where I was held prisoner like the black ninja avenger. She killed or incapacitated five people in less than ten seconds. She fired twelve shots. Six double taps. Out of a suppressed Glock 19 in that time. None of them, not one, missed its target. In terms of hand-to-hand combat, I can take any of you. She could take all of us, at the same time.

"In that pitch black stairwell she literally handed me her gun, told me to get out of the way, then tossed a 200 pound guy down the stairs. He didn't survive the fall. She took the gun back from me and five seconds later head shot two guys running towards our position getting ready to mow us down with submachine guns. Two double taps, four shots. Again, no misses. If they'd gotten a shot, even one burst from those guns, we wouldn't have stood a chance."

Jo continued, "The 'rubber heads,' as Annie called them, think I'm a warrior. I am not so sure about that. I've just seen one in action, and I didn't have a clue compared to her. She's a self-propelled weapon."

Agent Burk said, "I think Annie knows her limits, better than most."

"What do you mean? What limits? I didn't see any limits. How?"

"She was shot twice in the chest and left for dead about a year ago."

"What? Really? By what army?"

"I don't know, but she stalked and killed her assailant six months later. You do not want that woman pissed at you. Oh, I found out where she learned to shoot like that."

Rossabi said, "Where?"

"I promised I'd keep it a secret, and I will, but it's an elite gun fighting school that's privately owned and completely off the grid. It caters to the best of the best - a few from Seal Team Six, one or two from HRT that used to be on team six, some from Delta. Some from the black side of the CIA. She's only the second female ever to go there."

"How can we get some of our agents in there?"

"We can't. It's by invitation only. Nobody that knows is willing to say what it takes to be invited. But the person that told me about it knew of a female who was training there. He didn't know her job, or her name only that she was blond and her reputation at this school. He said she's one of the top four or five with handguns that's ever been to the school and in the top ten at distances to fifteen hundred yards with a sniper rifle."

Jo looked at Agent Rossabi for a moment and said, "You have known her for a few years from what I can figure out. If you can tell us, without revealing anything you shouldn't, what does she do?" Jo asked.

"I don't know exactly. But from what I've been able to figure out, she goes out in the world to get information. To spy. But she does it all alone, with no backup, in lands far away, in eighteen languages. She is used to living surrounded by people that would kill her, without hesitation, if she made a wrong move or even so much as had the wrong expression on her face, or used the wrong word or accent in whatever language was required. We teach kindergarten classes by comparison."

"Wow."

"Yes."

"So her real value isn't her combat skill, it's her brain? Her improvisational acting ability?"

Rossabi nodded and said, "Yes, based on what I think I know, what you've seen is the least valuable thing she can do. She and her boyfriend, Auggie, handed me my biggest ever terrorist bust on a silver platter and then vanished. They literally rolled #2 on the watch list down the ramp on the back of a plane like a log. He was tied up hand and foot. Then they walked away."

Burk said, "I saw the report that you captured that guy. That was huge. Walker did that?"

"We have intelligence that has me 99% sure it was her boyfriend, Auggie, operating pretty much on his own, in Turkey. She just coordinated it."

"He did that, and he's blind? That's the stuff of superhero's. I give up. This is more than I can process. Let's go home."

Jo said, "I'm all for that."

* * *

**EN: **I would really like to know what you thought about the chapter/story so far. A couple of words, a phrase, a sentence? I read and reply to every review. frw

07/17/2013


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